Catcher Tier Rankings Update — August 2012

Not sure if the other writers are updating the tiers for their positions, but there seems to be enough significant movement among the catchers, that I though a post with an updated set of tiers was worthwhile.  Taking into consideration past performance, ROS expectations and even a bit of keeper value, here’s a look at how the catching tiers look for the month of August and possibly even the remainder of the season.

U.S. Prime

Buster Posey

If there was any doubt about ranking Posey up here by himself last month, the fact that he’s batting .458 with seven home runs and 27 RBI since the All Star break should put that to rest, right?

U.S. Choice

Yadier Molina

Joe Mauer

Miguel Montero

Brian McCann

A.J. Pierzynski

Jarrod Saltalamacchia

Carlos Santana

The fact that Pierzynski hasn’t faded here in the second half is extremely impressive, especially for a 35-year old backstop with so much mileage on him. He’s definitely earned the right to be up in this tier for the 2012 season. Santana moves up because he’s turning it up here at the end just as he did last year when his 12 home runs over the final two months turned so many heads.

U.S. Select

Mike Napoli

Matt Wieters

Jesus Montero

Carlos Ruiz

Napoli drops another tier as his average remains under .230, but the power, walk rate and OBP keep him from falling too far. Wieters also drops as his overall performance remains stagnant rather than improves. And, of course, Ruiz drops with the plantar fascitis and the uncertainty of his ability to come back at all this season.

U.S. Standard

Ryan Doumit

Salvador Perez

Jonathan Lucroy

Wilin Rosario

A.J. Ellis

Lucroy makes a jump into this tier based mostly on his expected performance the rest of the way while the rest stay in the same tier as last month, but they shuffle around based on performance.

U.S. Commerical

Yasmani Grandal

Alex Avila

Kurt Suzuki

J.P. Arencibia

Suzuki makes the jump with the trade to Washington and some expected increased plying time. Avila drops due to a lackluster performance while Grandal stays right where he’s at until we see how he comes back from the oblique injury. Arencibia drops with the rest of his season in doubt.

U.S. Utility

Josh Thole

Steve Clevenger

John Buck

Michael McKenry

Russell Martin

Tyler Flowers

Geovany Soto

Jesus Flores

Chris Iannetta

Clevenger and McKenry debut here with the potential to move up a tier next month, while Soto and Flores drop with playing time questions moving forward.

U.S. Cutter

Ryan Hanigan

Miguel Olivo

John Jaso

Wellington Castillo

Rod Barajas

Chris Snyder

Jeff Mathis

Ramon Hernandez

Devin Mesoraco

Some overall disappointments here and barely worth the start in a deep two-catcher league even. Castillo has potential to move up if the Cubs are committed to him long term, but we won;t know about that until later on down the road.

U.S. Canner

Yorvit Torrealba

Nick Hundley

Wilson Ramos

Ewww!