Tigers -- C.J. “Breakout hitter” could have a range of definitions of course, and some names here are certainly more recognizable than others. If he can return to mashing the ball -- with help from some mechanical adjustments -- there’s plenty of reason to believe Riley can help aid Freddie Freeman, Acuña and company in the quest for a third consecutive division title.-- Langs, Ryan McMahon -- 2B, RockiesKey number: 91.4 mph average exit velocity. Here is one hitter to watch for each team. The 122 wRC+ smashed the previous team record of 111 that was set back in 1988. Here’s how Mets pitchers ranked in the NL leaders: In other Mets pitcher stats, David Peterson led all major league rookie pitchers with his 1.5 WAR. Despite that number, the Mets ranked only 13th in runs per game with at 4.77. It feels like we’ve been waiting for this for a while now, but Rosario only turned 24 in November, and he has shown considerable improvement since his August 2017 debut. . Cardinals -- Paul DeJong, SS: DeJong’s a streaky player, but he was making big strides in Spring Training, with many Cardinals insiders believing he was about to have a massive season. Setting aside last summer’s defensive improvement at shortstop, Rosario also raised his offensive numbers across the board, lifting his OPS+ from 88 to an above-average 102. Take that demonstrated ability to crush baseballs and add a year of experience at handling Major League pitching -- which could help improve a 134-to-30 strikeout-to-walk ratio -- and you have a young hitter who may be ready to emerge as a star at the plate.-- Andrew Simon, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. -- 3B, Blue JaysKey number: 118.9-mph exit velocity. Blue Jays -- Randal Grichuk, OF: Grichuk is a famously streaky hitter, and when it’s not working for him, he’ll strike out three times a day for two weeks. Martinez getting older, Devers, who led the league in doubles last year, is the offensive linchpin now. White Sox -- Tim Anderson, SS: Remember the start he got off to last year? Reds -- Aristides Aquino, OF: Pitchers may have figured him out in September, but if he hits 14 homers in a month like he did in his first month in the Majors, he’ll essentially be this season’s Barry Bonds. Vladito will cross 40 homers this year, and we’ll forget that we ever worried about him.-- Matt Kelly, Cavan Biggio -- 2B, Blue JaysKey number: 16.5% walk rate. Phillies -- Andrew McCutchen, OF: A left knee injury cut short his 2019 campaign, but now fully healthy, McCutchen could remind us of his MVP peak. And when Calhoun starts turning those popups into fly balls, he's going to be a star.-- David Adler, Alex Verdugo -- OF, Red SoxKey number: 91.2% zone-contact rate. What do you think the season’s last two weeks will be like if he’s doing that this time? The 23-year-old could be up to the task, however. The only thing he doesn't have is the stat sheet to show for it … yet. But wouldn’t it be something if he just went on a tear for two months? If Anderson does that this year, he might win the AL Central all by himself. Red Sox -- Rafael Devers, 3B: With Mookie Betts gone and J.D. Yankees -- Giancarlo Stanton, OF/DH: He seems to be healthy now, and suffice it to say, it should be easier to keep him healthy for two months than for six. In 377 PAs before his campaign was halted by injuries, Verdugo hit .294 with 12 homers, 22 doubles and a 114 OPS+. He missed time in August and early September with a torn ligament in his right knee, but that downturn began long before, in late June. It's time for the 25-year-old to make the leap in 2020. The Mets went 8-14 against left-handed starters despite most of their left-handed bats  – Conforto 142 wRC+, Smith 147, Cano 136, McNeil 111, Gimenez 109 – faring just fine against them. Heralded youngsters such as Ronald Acuña Jr. and Fernando Tatís Jr. have delivered on their promise with ease, but other top prospects can still take time to put it all together (look at Yoán Moncada last season). Pirates -- Jarrod Dyson, OF: There may be no perfect guy to bat with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth, but Dyson is exactly who you want at second base to start off extra innings. At last, we can say this: Let's start looking forward to the 2020 season. Guerrero obviously didn’t come close to his expectations, and Acuña, Tatís and Jiménez all made the big league transition look much easier. (What is this, the NBA?) Hope is in ample supply this time of year, so mark this prognosticator as all-in on Guerrero’s fitness improvement and commitment to lift the ball just a little bit more. .375 in April? His walk rate was tied for fourth highest among 207 players with at least 400 plate appearances last season, behind only Mike Trout, Yasmani Grandal and Alex Bregman. Another interesting stat from 2020, is that Conforto had 86 plate appearances against lefty pitching, fourth most in baseball. For the first time in team history, the Mets had three hitters finish in the top 10 in the National League in hitting. Analyzing New York Mets Hitters For 2020 – 60-Game Season Update Yoenis Cespedes . Let’s take a look at how Mets individual players ranked on the NL offensive leaderboard: As a team, the Mets had a 5.01 ERA (22nd in MLB) though the starters were the big culprits with a 5.37 ERA. Nearly 30% of those line drives and fly balls were hard hit, putting Swanson in the top quarter of the league in hard-hit air contact, right behind Pete Alonso and George Springer. Imagine what happens if he returns in full force for two months. There's no reason Dansby shouldn't be great. Jacob deGrom set a record with his 21.6 swinging strike percentage, previous record was 16.8 set by Gerrit Cole last season and Randy Johnson posted 16.3% during the first year they started tracking it in 2002. The patience is paying off. For the sake of this exercise, we’re going to limit ourselves to hitters; even the best starter only gets to throw three times every two weeks, after all. Mets’ Biggest Rotation Surprise and Disappointment in 2020, Luis Rojas Deserves Another Chance Under New Regime. But obviously McMahon wasn’t Trout, Donaldson or Olson, because he struck out and grounded out too much. McMahon’s chase rate was slightly above average, however, so a slight tweak or two could be all it takes to polish this 25-year-old’s swing. Rays -- Austin Meadows, OF: Don’t forget the AL Player of the Month in September last year. Anderson's bat was especially potent after the 2019 All-Star break, when he raised his launch angle to 14.1 degrees and crushed nine homers with a .923 OPS in just 166 PAs. He's done it before. After a solid 2018 rookie season in which he hit .273/.357/.400 with 11 homers, Anderson improved his isolated power (ISO) by 80 points last year, when he slugged 20 home runs over 520 plate appearances. (And for those wondering, both figures were nearly identical away from Colorado.) Other stars, such as Jeff McNeil, were never ranked on preseason prospect lists. It’s a short one, but that could make it more fun -- as a one-off, anyway. He only got into 69 games last year because of a bulging disk. Imagine what this team looks like if he has it this year. The Mets certainly saw some big-time individual seasons in 2020 – specifically from the offense – but unfortunately all they could muster was a 26-34 record. Mets -- Robinson Canó, 2B: Don’t forget that in September of last year, he was one of the best hitters the Mets had and one of the reasons the team finished strongly. His 60.1% swing rate against in-zone pitches was 20th lowest. Calhoun finally started doing both last season, and he popped 21 homers in 83 games with a .524 slugging and .848 OPS. More adjustments remain, but Rosario’s combination of contact, pop and wheels (94th-percentile sprint speed) is an intriguing mix heading into 2020.-- Simon, returns from a stress fracture in his back. Swanson deserved better last year. If Meadows puts up a .378/.472/.744 line this August like he did in last September, he’ll have the inside track for the AL MVP Award. Report: Could Cohen’s Ownership Hinge on Mayor De Blasio’s Approval? That makes identifying the next great hitter an inexact science, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun to try. Write this down: Swanson is going to have an "all-around star" type of year just like teammates Acuña and Ozzie Albies.-- Adler, Austin Riley -- 3B, Braves.588 expected slugging (xSLG) in 1st 35 games. Giants -- Hunter Pence, OF: He couldn’t have known the Giants would need a DH when he signed with them in February, but it looks awfully convenient now. Although he may fly under the radar on a rebuilding Marlins club, Anderson has become an integral member of Miami's core, and he's only getting better at the plate. Similar to its picks for dark horse Cy Young Award candidates, MLB.com enlisted five reporters to identify breakout hitters for 2020, with each selecting one hitter per league. But when it is, he has tons of raw power -- and don’t forget, for all the inconsistency, he had a higher slugging percentage last year than Vlad Jr. did. (He’s still only 33.). Cron, 1B/DH: The Tigers will just take anyone who can hit a homer at this point, and the new free-agent signing is one of the few guys hanging around who can. Popups are automatic outs. Brewers -- Ryan Braun, OF: Braun doesn’t have to flail around at first base now, and he may actually be the perfect DH for this team. He had a microscopic 13.5% chase rate, second lowest among players to see at least 750 out-of-zone pitches. We’re all waiting for this, right? Few hitters made hard contact on more of their batted balls than Jiménez, especially in the second half (51.1%). Hard line drives are hits. We know that every added mph of exit velocity, once a hitter gets into triple digits, increases the possibility for damage. Impressively, Verdugo struck out only 13% of the time (MLB average was 23%), and his 91.2% contact rate in the strike zone was the 16th-best mark in MLB (min. If you want to break out in MLB these days, you need to do two things: hit the ball hard, and hit the ball in the air. If he puts the ball in play more, but keeps up that walk rate, Biggio could turn into a valuable on-base machine for the Blue Jays.-- Sarah Langs, Willie Calhoun -- OF, RangersKey number: 36.4% ground-ball rate. Braves -- Marcell Ozuna, OF: Perhaps the most obvious choice on this list, letting Ozuna play DH in a walk year could allow him to have the season the Cardinals spent two years waiting on. Similar to its picks for dark horse Cy Young Award candidates, MLB.com enlisted five reporters to identify breakout hitters for 2020, with each selecting one hitter per league. Astros -- Carlos Correa, SS: We still haven’t seen peak Correa, largely because of injuries, but if he’s ready to go, after the offseason he and his team had, he may be ready to erupt.

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