Catcher Consensus Ranks for the Second Half

Rankings week is mercifully drawing to a close, with only the pitchers left for Monday. It makes sense to close the offense with catchers, in a way — they are the least likely position to make an offensive impact on your fantasy team. Sure, middle infielders hit for a worse batting line, but catchers are close, and they accrue fewer plate appearances. Their teams need to watch out for their knees and always employ a tandem at the position — only five catchers are projected to accrue more than 500 at-bats this year by the updated ZiPs, and that’s not a ton. By contrast, there are three first baseman that might crack 600 at-bats, and 21 that should cross the 500 at-bat threshold.

Catchers: not only are they doing it worse, they’re doing it less often. Maybe that’s a boon, actually. Sometimes, especially in two-catcher leagues, it makes sense just to leave that space unfilled. Many of these guys are just going to hurt your team more with every plate appearance.

This is not to denigrate the position entirely. There are plenty of fine young catchers that can swing the stick a little. Matt Wieters is pretty good. Joe Mauer might hit ten home runs this year. Yadier Molina might hit 20… really? Yadier Molina? Maybe. Dude never hit ten before last season. Then again, A.J. Pierzynski has already tied his career high in home runs at the tender age of 35. Never say never.

But you get the point. This is not a sexy position. If you’ve got a top option at the position, hold him tight and let him know how much he means to you.