Catcher 2025 Fantasy Rankings

William Contreras was fantastic in his second year in Milwaukee, improving all of his underlying power numbers while not sacrificing his contact skills to do so. His 118 max exit velocity was fourth in baseball and he hit 227 balls over 95 mph which was second among catchers. He gets to log a ton of plate appearances because he DHs a lot on his day off which is extremely valuable.

Adley Rutschman took a bit of a step back in his third year, but part of it was bad luck. His .272 BABIP was lower than his career BABIP which could be a part of his average dip. With Baltimore bringing back in the wall in left field at Camden, he may be one of the big beneficiaries. He only hit 7 of his 19 home runs as a righty, so with a little more help in that regard, he could add to that total. He is a nice bet to improve on last year.

Willson Contreras only played in 84 games due to a broken arm after the Cardinals instructed him to move forward while behind the plate. He is now going to move off of catcher and play first base which mean this is his last season with catcher eligibility, but he should lead most of the position in plate appearances. Contreras has been a low 20s homer guy in less than 500 PAs per season, but now we can safely project he could be a 25-30 homer guy playing all his games at first.

Do you like power? Big Dumper has power. Cal Raleigh launched another 30+ home runs in back to back seasons and while his contact issues remain, there aren’t going to cost him playing time because he is such a good defensive catcher. Add in the fact that he also DHs sometimes on his day off and he is a pretty safe bet to get back to 600 plate appearances and volume his way back to being a top 5 catcher.

In spite of actually hitting the ball hard consistently, Yainer Diaz doesn’t hit a ton of home runs. Is he capable of it? Absolutely as we saw when he hit 23 bombs in 2023, but in 2024 we saw him lower his launch angle in an attempt to get on base more. While I can’t project it, there is a range of outcomes where this all comes together and he is the #1 catcher in baseball.

Salvador Perez is just a monster. He played in 158 games in 2024 and had his best season in years. With Vinnie P returning from injury, it seems unlikely he will be able to play quite this much, but he is a pretty safe bet for 600 plate appearances as long as he is healthy and one of the safest stat lines at the position after four straight years of at least 23 homers, 76 RBI, and a .254 average or better.

Do you want the power of Raleigh but don’t want to spend what it costs to get him? Let me introduce to the diet version, Shea Langeliers. Bangeliers gives you a ton of power while going about 40 picks later in the ADP. Now the risk associated with Langeliers is riskier than with Raleigh. Langeliers is not the defensive catcher that Big Dumper is. He also isn’t surrounded by the type of lineup in Sacramento. On the plus side, the rebuilding A’s have no real reason not to play him and take what they can get from him.

Speaking of diet versions of a player. Is Will Smith not a diet version of Sal Perez? He has four seasons with at least 19 home runs, 75 RBI and a .248 average. The issue with Smith has little to do with him and much more to do with the team he is on. With Ohtani DHing and Freeman at first, there are just no real avenues for Smith to pick up the extra plate appearances that the top tier catchers can get. He is very stable which makes him a boring but extremely safe pick as a catcher.

I would love to say that this will be a JT Realmuto bounceback year, but there isn’t much in the profile to make me think he will jump up a tier or two. He virtually stopped running, attempting only one stolen base after April. He made more contact in 2024, but a lot of it was on the ground. Does this mean he is useless? Of course not, but we need to establish new expectations as a guy that is solid but not spectacular.

Logan O’Hoppe is an interesting young catcher. He hits the ball hard and could continue to add power, but he struggles with in-zone contact and swing decisions at times which may prevent him from taking the next step. While he was able to stay relatively healthy in 2024, I still have some worries about his previous shoulder issues. You also have the Angels lineup as a problem. Entering healthy in 2025, the lineup looks pretty decent, but that won’t last long when you are relying on guys like Trout, Ward, and Rendon.

Let’s play a game. Over the last four seasons, Tyler Stephenson’s batting averages have been: .286, .319, ..243, and .258. Project his 2025 batting average. Tough, isn’t it? I tend to think his high contact rate (fifth among catchers with at least 200 plate appearances) will give him an opportunity to maintain a decent average, but in spite of having some real power in the bat, his low launch angle doesn’t turn that into a ton of home runs even in Cincy.

A pretty good defensive catcher, Austin Wells is coming into his own still as hitter. He made just under league average zone contact which is fine, but he has a good eye mix with in zone aggressiveness that could pay off well if the power continues to grow. With the short porch in Yankee stadium,it wouldn’t take much for him to make a big step in terms of homers if he makes a few small changes.

With Contreras moving off catcher, Herrera should get a ton of ABs as the main catcher in St. Louis. While he doesn’t have massive upside, he has a pretty safe floor and is a sneak low-end C1 or high end C2.

An elite in-zone contact hitter, Keibert Ruiz doesn’t have a to of power in the bat, but he does have the ability to hit for a pretty good average while not hurting you in home runs. His average was bad in 2024, but a lot of that was having a .232 BABIP after never posting a BABIP below .263 prior to that. At worst he is a double digit power guy that should give you a decent average. If he could become more selective outside of the zone, there is even more upside in the average.

Currently at pick 333 in draft champions leagues ADP, Hunter Goodman is currently my favorite deal at his price. A lot can go wrong with the free-swinging profile, but there is a ton of power in the bat and he is in Colorado which always helps with the BABIP. His ability to play in the outfield gives him the potential to rack up plate appearances in a way that normally only the top tiers of the position can. I only projected him for 400 plate appearances, but if he found his way to more, watch out!

I know there are a lot of Francisco Alvarez truthers out there, but I am sorry that I can’t buy into him. Yes, he can crush the ball, but he doesn’t do it consistently. He also reverted back to hitting the ball on the ground more which is troubling. There is some massive upside here and he continues to improve the contact skills, but in order for that power to play, he needs to stay on the field and raise that launch angle.

An oblique injury in the first week season cost Sean Murphy the first two months of the season. After returning, he struggled with making in-zone contact, posting an 80.5% z-contact which was 3.4% worse than his previous career worst mark in 2023. He was unlucky, but that wasn’t the root of the issue. There was a clear degradation in skill. Now, how much of that can be chalked up to a bad injury plagued season, we don’t know. There is clear risk that he just isn’t the player we saw earlier in his career and being in Atlanta, the Braves have not been able to give him the type of plate appearances he had previously in Oakland. There is a ton of risk here that he could just not be usable in fantasy.

A good defensive catcher that makes a good amount of contact, Gabriel Moreno tricked a lot of fantasy players with his four homer performance in the 2023 playoffs and then delivered just five total home runs in 2024. He doesn’t DH or really play other positions so there isn’t a great way for him to volume and while he can hit the ball hard it is mostly on the ground. He does throw in some cheap speed, but it isn’t enough to outweigh the lack of power. He is a high floor but low ceiling guy.

As a real life catcher, I love Patrick Bailey, but as a fantasy option, he is pretty uninspiring. He does have secure playing time, but he isn’t racking up plate appearances and while I think there is some batting average upside because of his high contact approach, he just doesn’t put the ball in the air enough to tap into the power that is lying underneath the surface. I am very interested to see what the Giants add offensively because the lineup around him is barren, but right now he is another low upside, high floor guy.

There were moments early in the season when it looked like Connor Wong was having a breakout and then he fizzled out in the second half and the end of the season line wasn’t as enticing.

We got the “breakout” from Ryan Jeffers that many were looking for in 2024, but at what cost? The BABIP we saw in 2023 was clear lucky but he hit the opposite end of the spectrum in 2024 of that luck. He did DH a lot in 2024, but how much of that was due to the Twins terrible injury luck? We probably see a season closer to 2023 than 2024 in terms of playing time and production (minus the insane BABIP.)

With Jansen gone, Kirk gets to be the main guy, but he has never been able to maintain the bright moments we saw brief stretches over the course of a whole season. That being said, he has a pretty safe floor and the high contact approach with power in the bat means there is more upside in there than he gets credit for if he can raise that launch angle and play more than he has when Jansen was in tow.

Bo Naylor is the epitome of why I don’t mess around with catching prospects. At times he has shown flashes of power, flashes of speed, and flashes of the ability to make contact, but it has not yet all come together and it honestly may not ever. With Hedges back on the roster in Cleveland, he will lose time because of Hedges’ behind the plate prowess, but there is upside here and he is a fun gamble as a C2.

Well, Pittsburgh is a catcher conundrum. We had a fairly believable breakout from the former first round pick in Joey Bart in 2024. Then you have former top prospect Endy returning from Tommy John surgery. He ended last season on a rehab assignment so there is reason to believe he will be ready to go for the 2025 season. Finally you have Henry Davis, who is the former first overall pick. Davis has been disappointing in the Majors, but he crushed AAA. The presence of the other two could force the Pirates to send him back to the minors if he struggles or off of the position as both Bart and Endy are better behind the plate. Davis remains a high upside gamble. Bart may be the most interesting for fantasy. He made massive improvements against breaking and offspeed pitches in Pittsburgh which what killed him during his time in San Francisco. The question will be playing time for him and Rodriguez. If they share time, neither are super attractive unless one or both of them are getting substantial time at DH which could be a possibility.

See, sometimes defense does matter. Offensively, Luis Campusano has a lot of promise, but he is so bad defensively that he finished the year in the minors. Right now he is projected to be the starter, but who really knows what the Padres will do with him or at the position. Upside is huge but the downside is disastrous.

Now splitting catching duties in Texas with Higashioka, Heim’s chance of a rebound to the 2023 levels seems unlikely and that is probably the outlier in terms of fantasy production. Add in his injury history and he isn’t much more than a C2.

Not a bad landing spot for Jansen. He should play regularly, but he has never lived up to his prospect hype. Low end C2 still.

Miguel Amaya has been a much different hitter at the Major League level than he was in the minors, focusing more on contact and less on trying to take the ball out of the park. It makes him a bit interesting if the average comes up as I suspect it will, but it limits the power upside and when he is sharing the duties most of the time and capped around 400 plate appearances, that become less enticing outside of deeper two-catcher leagues.

Sharing time in Texas with Heim in Texas isn’t good for Kyle Higashioka’s projection for playing time and production, but Heim has a history of injuries and in leagues where you roster three catchers, that might make Higgy interesting.

Sanchez lands in Baltimore which isn’t a great spot in terms of finding more playing time, but it is a great lineup and if something were to happen to Rutschman, then he would be really valuable.

Travis d’Arnaud always finds a few useful weeks, but he is clearly the backup for the Angels and is only really interesting as.a third catcher in a Draft Champions league oor off the wire if O’Hoppe gets hurt.

Kyle Teel is a top catching prospect on the verge of the Major Leagues. He isn’t a bad stash option if you have a minor league slot available.

Edgar Quero is another top catching prospect that could be up pretty early in the season. There won’t much around him, but he has been great in the minors since being traded to the White Sox organization.

Could be in a nice spot in Chicago, but I don’t know what the role will be with Amaya in tow.

Hey, Jacob Stallings being back in Colorado means he will have times of relevancy in deeper two-catcher leagues.

I love Nick Fortes contact skills, but the power has not developed and there isn’t much reason to believe it will in Miami. That being said, he is a pretty cheap and interesting catcher for leagues where you are rostering 3-4 catchers in draft champions leagues because the floor isn’t terrible.

A former prospect of note, Korey Lee is the man it seems in Chicago for right now. There is power and speed in the profile, but he struggles mightily with with contact and Quero is on the way soon and likely replaces him as the top guy behind the plate when he does arrive.

Everyone was really excited about the prospect of a catcher eligible Mitch Garver that mainly DHs everyday until we experienced it. Yes, he was unlucky, but every power and contact underlying metric took a dip or sharp decline in 2024. At 34-years-old, he just may be done.

David Fry had surgery to repair his UCL and is likely not going to be ready for the start of the season. Until we have a concrete timetable, it is hard to draft him.

WIll Yasmani Grandal sign somewhere? Maybe as a defensive option as a backup, but he has no real value even if he does.

Should land a job somewhere, but where will determine his value.