Which LA Angels' RBI leaders from last season will repeat in 2022?

The 2021 season for the LA Angels certainly was ... something. On the bright side, Shohei Ohtani pitched and slugged his way to a historic MVP season. On the other end of the equation, three-time MVP Mike Trout didn't step in the batters' box after May 17 due to an injury.

The end result: A glance at the LA Angels 2021 RBI leaders is a bit cringe inducing overall.

Just two players even surpassed even 50 RBI -- Ohtani and first baseman Jared Walsh.

One of the top five was traded; another was released.

Today, we're going to take a look through that Angels RBI leaders list and see if there's anything we can learn about the 2022 season that could be helpful.

LA Angels' 2021 RBI leaders: Shohei Ohtani -- 100 RBI

Shohei Ohtani was the lone Angel to hit the 100 RBI mark on the year, and it took him until Game 162 to do so. But it didn't take long. Ohtani led off with a solo home run off Mariners starter Tyler Anderson, his 46th home run of the season.

You can do the math and see with 46 home runs, Ohtani drove in just 54 runners in his 639 plate appearances.

There's a reason for that and it's not just the Angels ineptitude overall. Ohtani led off in 23 games, batted second in 117, and batted third in six. That accounts for the entirety of his spots in the batting order.

Near the top of the lineup like that, and with the bottom of the order not exactly getting on base all that often (.246 average, .290 OBP) the opportunities were just not there.

How many RBI will Shohei Ohtani have in 2022?

2021 was Ohtani's most successful year as a major league hitter, and he was in the lineup nearly every single day of the season. So how will the 27-year-old do in 2022?

The projection systems so far are split on whether Ohtani's success is sustainable. Marcel the Monkey (read an explainer on Marcel projections here), the "dumb" system used at Baseball Reference, puts him at 80 RBI.

Steamer, which you can find at FanGraphs, is a little "smarter" system, using aging curves. Under that system, Ohtani's RBI projection is 99, with the season more or less in line with 2021.

ZiPS, the smart projection system developed by Dan Szymborski and displayed at FanGraphs, also sees Ohtani continuing his success with 101 RBI.

Ohtani should remain pretty consistent as a batter, so the best guess might just come down to figuring how much playing time you expect of Ohtani in 2022 and how healthy you believe he'll be able to be.

LA Angels' 2021 RBI leaders: Jared Walsh -- 98 RBI

2021 marked the first full season of baseball for Angels first baseman Jared Walsh -- and he did not disappoint. The (now) 28-year-old hit .277 with 29 home runs and 98 RBI. He slugged .590.

Oh, and he had a great glove too.

Walsh was all over the lineup, but spent 98 games in either the fourth or fifth spots, giving him a little more opportunity to drive in runs. That likely accounts for why 69 of his 98 driven in were others.

Walsh was at his best early in the season, before Trout was injured generally, and then during the final month. He cratered a bit in July, but other than that could still be seen as a pretty productive hitter overall, posting OPS of about .800 or better most other months.

How many RBI will Jared Walsh have in 2022?

Marcel, again, is on the low end here predicting 80 RBI. Again, we can probably rule out Marcel.

Steamer, again, just sort of pushes last year's stats forward a little bit. If everything is about the same as last year, everything will be about the same in 2022, it seems to say. There's an argument to be made for that, with Walsh reaching his prime years. He's probably not going to take a step back as a hitter right now, as long as he is in the lineup.

ZiPs sees Walsh driving in even more runs than Ohtani, with 104 RBI. Again, he's in the prime of his career so you can make a good argument for that.

About the only mitigating factor is the return of Mike Trout. If he's healthy and playing most days, there's a chance Trout will take some of the RBI opportunities off the board for Walsh.

LA Angels' 2021 RBI leaders: David Fletcher -- 47 RBI

David Fletcher is a bit of an unexpected name to find so high up the list. The second baseman batted .262 with .324 slugging. A .622 OPS is not exactly what you expect to find among a team's RBI leaders. But, that does tend to say a lot about the Angels' 2021 season, doesn't it?

The 27-year-old was playing in his third "full" MLB season (keeping in mind 2020 was shortened). His 2020 season, at all of 49 games, was the best of the trio. He hit .319/.376/.425 for an .801 OPS and earned a little consideration at the end of an MVP ballot for the effort.

How many RBI will David Fletcher have in 2022?

Maybe the 2019 season, with 49 RBI and a .734 OPS, is most indicative of Fletcher. Not great, not bad.

As Szymborski pointed out, Fletcher's big issue in 2021 was being too swing happy. He swung at pitches outside the strike zone more often than ever before (33% vs. 28% average). Maybe being more disciplined there could help.

All three projection systems see about the same thing, with ZiPS on the low end with 46 RBI and Steamer on the high with 52.

LA Angels' 2021 RBI leaders: Phil Gosselin -- 47 RBI

Phil Gosselin tied David Fletcher in RBI with 47. The Angels, however, decided to non-tender the (now) 33-year-old utilityman.

To be fair, outside the RBI, Gosselin maybe didn't offer the most at the plate. Though he started off and finished strong, with a negative WAR and .676 OPS, an argument could be made for moving on. Perhaps the Angels can find another player who can do a similar task and offers a greater chance of having a breakout year.

With 26 of the RBI after Aug. 1, playing in 48 games, Gosselin saw regular playing time and made what he could of it.

How many RBI will Phil Gosselin have in 2022?

If you're looking for RBI projections for Phil Gosselin, you're probably in a pretttttty deep league. As of this writing, Gosselin remains a free agent, so giving a firm RBI prediction is essentially guesswork without knowing what kind of situation he'll be in.

As for the projection systems, Steamer has him at 26 RBI, while Marcel is holding out hope for a repeat of 2021. Wait to see where he lands before coming up with anything too concrete.

LA Angels' 2021 RBI leaders: Justin Upton, 41 RBI

Outfielder Justin Upton was actually tied with another player (and former Detroit Tigers teammate), Jose Iglesias with 41 RBI. But since Iglesias was traded, we'll just focus on Upton here.

Upton's contract has been one of the more disappointing ones for the Angels and should continue to be so. He earned $21 million in 2021 while posting a -0.7 WAR. As a 34-year-old in 2022, he'll earn $24 million.

Staying in the lineup has been an issue. He was on the IL twice and played in just 89 games. While in the lineup, he hit .211 with .296 OBP and .409 slugging. So the power is still there, as evidenced by 17 home runs. It's just the rest that is missing.

How many RBI will Justin Upton have in 2022?

If he stays healthy, if he gets a fair number of appearances in the lineup, Upton will still probably be a disappointment when compared against his contract.

He could still offer something, however, as projection systems expect the power to remain. Marcel has him at 18 home runs; ZiPS at 16.

As for RBI, both systems have Upton around 50, while Steamer is a bit behind at 43.

What about Mike Trout? Keep reading!