Not all breakout seasons are created equal. With that in mind, it's time to take a look at the MLB players who took the biggest steps forward in 2022 to decide who made the leap to stardom -- and who still has more to prove.
To decide who graduated to stardom this season, we enlisted ESPN MLB writers David Schoenfield and Jeff Passan to break down 18 candidates with Schoenfield making the case for each emerging player and Judge Jeff rendering a final verdict.
The budding aces
Schoenfield's case: Wait, Fried didn't graduate a year ago?