Catching Up: Replacing the Injured Backstops

Jonathan Lucroy, Yan Gomes, and Travis D’Arnaud all recently hit the disabled list. John Jaso was on the DL after just one plate appearance! Matt Wieters started the season on the DL and it seemed like Devin Mesoraco was headed there soon until a recent PH appearance. He hasn’t started a game since April 11th and he missed seven games in between PH appearances on the 12th and 21st. That is four of the top 10 drafted catchers, another within the top 15, and one of the most popular second catcher options in Jaso as he stood to get a ton of playing time as a non-catching catcher.

A position that carried a bit of depth coming into the season has been decimated by injuries early on and left fantasy owners scrambling. Add in the fact that some other popular backstops are slow out of the gate (Evan Gattis and Russell Martin aren’t hitting anywhere near their weight at .118 and .132, respectively) and the position has really turned into a mess. Those of you who lost Jaso or Wieters and maybe even Gomes had a shot to get Stephen Vogt, but that window has been slammed shut in the last week. He was at about 10% ownership a week ago at ESPN and now sits at 99.3%:

So now what?

The wire isn’t lined with options to replacement your fallen catchers, but there are some names of note out there for you. These guys should be available in many leagues if you’re looking to replace a catcher (or two). First off, let’s start with some of the direct replacements of the injured guys.

Caleb Joseph, BAL – Joseph has been raking this year. He’s second in wRC+ among catchers with a 185 to only Vogt (221). A.J. Pierzynski (206) squeezes in there if you drop the playing time threshold, but however you slice it, Joseph is off to a great start. The 29-year old is a late-bloomer for sure, but he popped nine bombs in 82 games last year, including a huge August (.952 OPS, 5 HRs). You can’t just extrapolate the homers from last year and say he’s an 18-homer/year guy, especially because of the playing time that catchers get, but it’s not outlandish to tab him as a double-digit homer guy.

Wieters’ timetable was supposed to have him back around May 1st, but the latest reports suggest that is aggressive. This could wind up as a situation where Joseph still gets a good bit of playing time even when Wieters returns as Wiets just might not be able to catch all the time as he returns from Tommy John surgery. Joseph usually bats in the bottom third of the order, but any regular spot in that lineup can be beneficial. They were top 10 in runs scored and wRC+ last year and they remain there early on this season.

Roberto Perez, CLE – Perez had a bit of a breakout in Triple-A last year, although it was just 53 games of work (209 PA) and he wasn’t exactly a hot prospect coming up through the minors so it’s hard to make too much of his .922 OPS and eight homers during that run, but it earned him a second half with the big league club and now he’s the starter to cover Gomes’ injury. He will pop a few homers (he has two already), but there won’t be much else to look for in this profile. He is second-best among the backups replacing the injured guys, but that speaks more to the low quality of the group as a whole than anything else. Plus, Gomes is looking at two months on the shelf, at least, whereas the other injured guys could all return in May.

Kevin Plawecki, NYM – d’Arnaud’s injury is particularly upsetting for Mets fans because he was off to such a great start, but Plawecki might actually surprise in his stead. Kiley McDaniel had him second among Mets prospects with 50 raw power and some hitting upside (future 55 hit, 45 game power). He had two nice seasons across four levels in 2013 and 2014 with quality plate discipline shown via an 11% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate in 940 PA. That approach yielded a .307 AVG and .833 OPS with 19 HRs and 144 RBIs in the two seasons. He wasted no time showing getting started in the majors with a 2-for-4 debut on Tuesday night. I think he could be one of the sneakier pickups for those ailing behind the dish.

Martin Maldonado, MIL – Maldonado has been Lucroy’s backup for three years now. He has two decent efforts and a truly disastrous season among the trio with wRC+ totals of 97, 39, and 97. Lucroy is expected to be out 4-6 weeks. Maybe we get lucky and Maldonado replicates his June 2012: .274/.338/.493 with 5 HRs and 14 RBIs, but chances are we get something more like a .675ish OPS with few homers. On the plus side, Maldonado has a great chance to top his 2014 homer total of four. He has one already.

And now let’s look at some other widely available options:

Yasmani Grandal, LAD – Grandal came into the season as a pretty popular breakout pick, but his slow start has left him available in a lot of leagues. He’s on the wire in 74% of Yahoo! leagues and just about half of ESPN leagues (50.7% ownership) after a .188 start. He is a streaky hitter, though, and I think he will come out of it in a big way. He had two sub-.600 OPS months last year (May-June) with a .157 AVG in that span. He hit .251 the rest of the season. Invest now and get the good stuff his first team owner passed on.

Francisco Cervelli, PIT – This is a good one specifically if you lost Lucroy. Cervelli isn’t primed to hit 53 doubles and he probably won’t come close to the 14 HRs that Lucroy has averaged the last four seasons, but he can adequately replace the batting average lost with the Lucroy injury. Lucroy has hit .282 for his career and dropped a .301 on the league last year. Cervelli has a .279 career mark and also hit .301 last year, albeit in 492 fewer PA. Cervelli is off a .306 start and will end being a big surprise on the fantasy landscape in his first season as a full-timer.

J.T. Realmuto, MIA – Plawecki wasn’t the only catcher to hit the two-spot on his team’s prospect list. Kiley also had Realmuto second among Marlins farmhands. Playing time could be light early on with Jarrod Saltalamacchia there and making $7 million this year, but he wasn’t great last year (91 wRC+) and he’s off to a wretched start this year at 2-for-25 (19 wRC+). Realmuto had all of 13 PA at Triple-A before getting the call so the transition could take some time and with that I recommend him more for an NL-only, but he can hit and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was getting a 60-40 playing time advantage over Salty by mid-May.