2022 Padres Player Review: Jurickson Profar

2022 Regular Season Statistics

2.5 fWAR, 152 G, .243 AVG, .331 OBP, .391 SLG, 111 OPS+, 82 R, 58 RBI, 15 HR

Positives From This Season

Last offseason Padres fans were trying to find who Jurickson Profar’s replacement was going to be in left field. Some thought Profar was better as a utility player and believed A.J. Preller didn’t fill a hole going into the season. Looks like Preller knew what he was doing right?

Profar stayed healthy all year long, hitting a career-high 36 doubles and finishing with an above average OPS+. Not having a consistent leadoff hitter is a problem (just ask the Yankees) and Profar made sure that San Diego didn’t have that problem most of the year. He had a .745 OPS in 90 starts hitting in the leadoff spot.

In the postseason, the 29-year-old reached base in 11 of San Diego’s 12 games.

Despite not being a Gold Glove finalist in left field somehow, he had 10 assists in the regular season. That wasn’t what fans were expecting at the beginning of the year but we’ll take that pleasant surprise.

Negatives From This Season

There weren’t really any negatives from Profar this season. His strikeout and walk rate stayed about the same compared to 2021 and he improved defensively.

Profar has a $7.5 million player option for 2023 and it isn’t a guarantee he takes that to come back to San Diego. His FanGraphs dollar metric for this past season finished at $20 million, which means FanGraphs believes he’d get $20 million per year in free agency based on his WAR from the 2022 season.

I don’t see him getting that high of an AAV but he should be able to get more than $7.5 million per year so the question likely comes down to if he wants to stay where he’s comfortable or if he wants to go get the most money.

If you wish to listen or watch me talk more about Profar‘s season on the Talking Friars Podcast/YouTube show, click here!