3 New York Yankees players who'll be better in 2023 and 2 who won't

Oswald Peraza, SS

Hey, ditto for Oswald Peraza! For the "run it back" crowd ... do you honestly think using Peraza as the Opening Day shortstop, rather than as "a guy who makes his MLB debut in the ninth inning of a blowout at The Trop," qualifies the 2023 squad as the "same team" from last year? Earnest question.

Peraza's postseason consisted of a few sparkling defensive plays in Game 2 of the ALCS in Houston, an 0-for-3 ledger (but who didn't have one of those?!), and ... that's it. Despite being promoted at the start of September during a trying stretch for the Yankees, he only received 49 at-bats to get his feet wet (and hit .306 with an .833 OPS while shining on D, for what it's worth).

Peraza was a top prospect sprinkled on top of the 2022 season, but in 2023, he'll be a huge part of the main course. There'll still be an infield logjam, but it sure seems like he's winning this year's edition, squeezing Isiah Kiner-Falefa out for the time being. The team tells you it's his shortstop job to lose coming out of spring training. After all the work they did to minimize his contributions last year, doesn't that tell you something?

Peraza might not be Jeremy Peña for the 2023 Yankees, but his prospect pedigree -- no matter what MLB Pipeline says -- indicates that he could have a massive impact on remaking a Yankees lineup that could use more punch from two or three spots.

Jonathan Loaisiga, RHP

Relievers are fungible and can vacillate between "spectacular" and "useless" from year to year. We know that. That said ... it was only one year ago when Jonathan Loaisiga was thought of as the heir apparent to Mariano Rivera, parlaying moderate strikeout numbers into dominance thanks to low-quality contact and a buzzsaw cutter.

Somehow, in 2022, he stayed mostly healthy, but was ... largely not good! Every reliever is prone to bouts of ineffectiveness, but this was more surprising than most dips.

Loaisiga only managed 48 innings in 2022, most of them fairly hittable (4.13 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, just 37 Ks). Things got better as the year dragged on, though; at the end of July, his ERA was 6.75!

6.75!!!

Loaisiga's August? 1.86 ERA in 9.2 innings pitched. Loaisiga's September? 1.93 ERA in 14 innings. Eventually, the right-hander found his footing, which bled into the postseason. In October, Loaisiga was one of only four reliable back-end options for the Yankees, and he appeared in six of the team's nine postseason games, thriving with an 0.96 ERA. He looked most like his old self in Game 5 of the ALDS, erasing two full middle innings against the Guardians (three hits, two Ks).

Some of Loaisiga's struggles in 2022 were to be expected due to random variance, but nobody saw him being that brutal in the first half, which began to correct itself as his shoulder warmed up and the year dragged on. 2023 could feature some rough times, too, but odds are he'll have a much better season overall.

2 New York Yankees Who Will Not Be Better in 2023

Aaron Hicks, OF

All we can do now is cross our fingers and hope that the shift ban changes everything, because no matter what Brian Cashman's currently selling you, there's no reason to believe Hicks will suddenly revert back to being the old reliable player the Yankees have been missing after earning the left field job.

The main reason why? He's never really been reliable!

Hicks' 2018 season was everything the Yankees believed in when they acquired him from Minnesota and tried to breathe life into the former top prospect. He always had a cannon for an arm, but added the power-speed package that year, hitting 27 bombs, walking 90 times, and OPSing .833. The next year, with the juiced ball, things were going well again for Hicks before he hurt his elbow, returned to drill a postseason home run off Justin Verlander, then had UCL surgery, which sapped his arm strength (among other things).

Add in a busted wrist sheath from early in the 2021 season, and Hicks may have experienced one malady too many. He didn't do much of anything right in 2022. He didn't hit the ball hard (31st percentile in average exit velocity, 14th in hard hit percentage). He didn't limit strikeouts (31st percentile in K%, 41st in whiff rate). He didn't slug (10th percentile). He didn't get good jumps on the ball (48th percentile). He did dominate Staring at Rolling Fair Balls Down the Left Field Line, though (100th percentile, only guy who did it).

Add in a cursory few bloop hits through holes created by the Shift Ban, and that's all well and good. It doesn't seem like Hicks has the foundation to return to his 2018 levels any more, though, after numerous surgeries. Hoping for the best, but expecting the 31st percentile.

Josh Donaldson, 3B

Eyesight doesn't get better with age. Despite high-quality hard contact numbers in 2021 that portended good things for a move to Yankee Stadium, Donaldson's offensive profile got markedly worse, even as he maintained solid exit velocity.

The main issue? He didn't hit the ball very often.

He swung and missed harder than ever, falling in the eighth percentile for whiff percentage, 15th for strikeout percentage, and seventh for expected batting average. That is brutal, and unlike a fine wine, it probably won't get better with age.

That's what Donaldson is, after all. He's fine. And he whines. His defense remains exceptional, and occasionally he'll tattoo a walk-off grand slam into the short porch and make everyone think he's en route back to consistently bringing rain.

Unfortunately, Donaldson's age-37 season is likely to include some defensive regression, too. His ability to make consistent contact disappeared almost overnight, so why wouldn't his range and agility decline, too?

When the Yankees traded for Donaldson, they were prepared to absorb a hefty salary alongside the benefit of vicious slugging with baked-in injury concerns. The slugging rarely materialized in 2022, and there's very little reason to believe everything will turn on a dime next season, when he will likely be wearing this uniform once again.