3 Los Angeles Dodgers players who'll be better in 2023 and 2 who won't

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After a franchise record-setting regular season that ended in disaster, the 2023 Los Angeles Dodgers are banking on a number of emergent talents on their road to getting right this year.

They're also banking on next winter's free agency, but that's a story for another tax threshold.

If the Dodgers are going to maintain supremacy in the NL West, they're going to have to hope a significant number of young contributors emerge and carry a large amount of the water (James Outman and Miguel Vargas, we're looking at you). This isn't a run-of-the-mill Padres team behind them, of course. It's a team that advanced to the NLCS, upset the Dodgers in the postseason, will enjoy a full season of Juan Soto, and just added Xander Bogaerts as an additional thorn in the division's side.

On paper, the Padres are the better team on Opening Day. As last year's Dodgers learned, though, they don't play the big games on paper.

If the Dodgers are going to fend off the Pads, they'll need these three players to improve in 2023 -- and they'll also probably need to absorb lackluster efforts from the latter two, who were previously intrinsic to the program.

3 Dodgers Who Will Be Better in 2023

Dustin May, RHP

If May isn't "better" than he was at the tail end of his Tommy John recovery in 2022, then the Los Angeles Dodgers' patchwork rotation has serious problems.

Luckily, the odds are extremely in the young fireballer's favor, after already dealing with and shrugging off the most common impediment in any developing pitcher's life.

Last year, May vowed to start games when he returned to the mound in the late summer, and start he did -- though not with the intended effect. In six starts, he managed to miss bats (29 Ks and 21 hits in 30 innings), but struggled with his control, not an uncommon problem for post-rehab periods.

It was likely, upon May's return, that Dodgers fans wouldn't see the real version of the red-headed right-hander until he had a full healthy offseason to work with. 14 walks and 15 earned runs (4.50 ERA) in 30 innings isn't the real May, and the 25-year-old's ceiling should be relatively unlimited this season. The stuff is there. The prep work will be, too. He'll improve.

Mookie Betts, OF

Mookie Betts was still a certified, all-caps STAR in 2022, but concerns about the longer term began to linger. Was the 5-9 Betts suddenly becoming "injury-prone" as he entered his 30s? Did the Dodgers sign an electric mega-star through his 40s, or did they commit big money to Evolutionary Andrew McCutchen?

It's understandable why fans would freak out at the slightest dip in production from a player they'd been assured was closer to God than man. That said, 2022's Betts season was still pretty excellent across the board; the defensive stud finished with a career-high 35 home runs and a higher OPS than he'd posted in 2021 (.873 to .854).

Proclaiming he'll be "better" in 2023 indicates there's still untapped potential in a top-20 player in baseball, but ... if Betts can just harness the patience he displayed in 2021 (.367 OBP vs .340 last year) and maintain his newfound power (12 more bombs in 20 more games in 2022), his OPS will rise closer to .900.

All the metrics under the hood indicate Betts hasn't lost a step; his all-red Savant page shows a hitter with peaks and no valleys, and who posted an expected wOBA last season in the 80th percentile.

The "shift ban" won't help Betts and his spray chart all that much much, but a combination of the best of his past two seasons in Dodger Blue will create an uptick in production and will cement his superstar status.

Noah Syndergaard, RHP

Which pitcher has arrived in Dodger Blue and hasn't gotten better? Add in the raw tools of Noah Syndergaard, his rededication to discovering his velocity, and the baked-in "Tommy John bounce back year" of 2022, and Thor has all the ingredients to be vastly improved next year.

Out of the rehab chamber and into the fire last year, Syndergaard took an expensive one-year deal with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to attempt to reestablish his value. He showed flashes, but wasn't the same pitcher; his fastball was down several ticks, and it was often too flat (with impeccable control, which only added further to his Meatball Count).

By the time the playoffs rolled around, Syndergaard had been handed a life raft by the Phillies, and his performance down the stretch in Philadelphia was an upgrade, though he was still limited entering the World Series. During Syndergaard's Fall Classic start, it felt like Phillies manager Rob Thomson was hovering over a "Break Glass in Case of Emergency" call to the bullpen with every single. Ultimately, he allowed a homer and two earned runs in three innings before giving way to relief. The Old Thor? He would've stalked around the mound in fury and commanded the upper quadrant of the plate until the manager ripped the ball from his palm.

That's the guy he's hoping to be in 2023. Even if the Dodgers can't unlock the dormant fire-breathing Thor, they can at least bank on harnessing the soft contact he allowed throughout last season --80th percentile in average exit velocity against.

We'll bet on him missing a few more bats and snarling a little more this season, though.

2 Dodgers Who Won't Be Better in 2023

Max Muncy, INF

Max Muncy may epitomize the Dodgers' ability to find diamonds in the rough more than any other player. He was legitimately plucked off the A's scrap heap, and almost immediately found himself thrust into the 18th inning of Game 3 of the World Series, where he flicked an effortless opposite-field wall-scraper off Nathan Eovaldi to end a long day's journey into night.

Muncy's Dodgers career has likely already peaked, and that's alright. The highs were high, and the lows don't appear to be Cody Bellinger-level low.

After all, in a banged-up 2022 season compromised by an impact elbow injury suffered at the tail end of 2021 -- when he was the Dodgers' clear MVP -- he continued on his "power and patience" kick, but regressed in the average department. After full, 162-game seasons with xBAs of .257, .261 and .271, Muncy's expected number dropped all the way to .208 last season, in the bottom 4% of the league. He was still exceptionally patient (.329 OBP/.196 AVG) and moderately powerful (21 homers, down from 36 the year prior). He was a solid ballplayer at multiple infield positions after being a very great one the year prior.

Now 32, it's fair to expect Muncy to look more like his 2022 self moving forward and less like the reincarnation of Kevin Youkilis that he'd been at his peak. And that's perfectly alright.

Chris Taylor, UTIL

Thanks for the memories, CT3. Dodger fans will never let this man forget about the postseason moments, the whip-quick bat, and the lopsided Mariners trade that carried him to Los Angeles.

At this point, though, Taylor's potent bat could easily be a thing of the past. The 32-year-old Virginia Cavalier will still provide the Dodgers value in the clubhouse (and with his versatility), but the days of postseason offensive dominance are likely over, as evidenced by the shaky managerial moves that kept him out of a pinch-hitting role against the Padres last fall.

If a vaunted postseason hero isn't going to get a chance over Austin Barnes, that tells you all you need to know.

Never a Statcast darling, Taylor's 2022 season was especially worrisome; his xBA of .195 fell in the bottom 2% of the league, below even Muncy. His average exit velocity slotted into the 20th percentile, and his hard-hit percentage fell in the 38th. His card, in essence, was Dodger Blue in all the worst ways.

Taylor will continue to be a nice chess piece for Dave Roberts moving forward, but if he isn't displaced by James Outman, Miguel Vargas and Gavin Lux as his most common positions, then something very unexpected has occurred.

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