Catchers: Platoon Battles

Last week I told you to keep an eye on Washington backup Wilson Ramos.  He may have been listed as the backup on the team’s depth chart, but it has been widely speculated that he will receive the lion’s share of the work behind the dish for the Nationals this season as they slowly phase out a declining Pudge Rodriguez.  Platoons can be a tenuous situation for fantasy leaguers, so avoiding them is usually one’s priority come draft day.  But if you’re playing in a deep league or a league that calls for two catchers, you are sometimes forced to take a chance and hope you grab the better half of a split situation.  Here’s a couple of notable interest…

Cincinnati Reds:  Ramon Hernandez vs Ryan Hanigan

The time split for the two is expected to be 50/50, but my gut is telling me that we may be looking at a situation similar to that in Washington.  On the surface, it looks like Hanigan and Hernandez are evenly matched, but Hanigan’s OBP and wOBA are just a cut above, as well as his walk rate and K%.  Hernandez does have a slight edge in slugging percentage and ISO, but given the fact that they call Great American Ballpark home, that just doesn’t have as much weight.  Especially when Hanigan plugged two HR just yesterday.  Dusty Baker says he wants to use both, but when push comes to shove, I could see him riding Hanigan just a bit more.  Keep an eye on this situation as the season progresses.  Hanigan is only owned in 2% of all Yahoo leagues and even less than that (0.2%) in ESPN leagues.  If Baker starts to lean on Hanigan more, he could be an interesting pick up.

Tampa Bay Rays:  John Jaso vs Kelly Shoppach

Its power vs lefties and a strong OBP vs righties that makes up this platoon in Tampa Bay, and barring any kind of a major injury, it should stay that way for most of the season.  While Joe Maddon raves about Jaso’s on base skills vs right-handed pitching (.373 OBP), his lack of power and poor work against southpaws leaves the door open for a straight up platoon.  Shoppach, is seemingly the polar opposite.  He’s got the career .286 average against left-handed pitching, and while he doesn’t post the strongest on-base numbers, his career .198 ISO is too hard to overlook.  Now while that’s all very workable for Maddon and the Rays this season, fantasy owners are going to have a very difficult time using either player.  Shoppach’s playing time will obviously be a little less than Jaso’s and he’s just too streaky to trust.  Jaso, on the other hand, may see more playing time, but Maddon has already stated that he will not be using him in the leadoff spot as he did last season.  Jaso is slated to bat ninth apparently due to his lack of speed on the bases.  With that cut in at bats and, again, a general lack of power, Jaso’s value takes a tremendous hit.  Steer clear of this situation until maybe one of them starts to get a bigger look.