Non-Maxwellian evaporation of light atoms and molecules (particles) such as He and H2 from liquids has been observed experimentally. In this work, we use simulations to study systematically the evaporation of Lennard-Jones particles from liquid water. We find instances of sub- and super-Maxwellian evaporation, depending on the mass of the particle and the particle-water interaction strength. The observed trends are in qualitative agreement with experiment. We interpret these trends in terms of the potential of mean force and the effectiveness and frequency of collisions during the evaporation process. The angular distribution of evaporating particles is also analyzed, and it is shown that trends in the energy from velocity components tangential and normal to the liquid surface must be understood separately in order to interpret properly the angular distributions.