The latest episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Devin Mesoraco, Former Major League Catcher

Interview

• Life after baseball
• Breakthrough moment of career
• Game planning
• The best pitchers Devin ever caught
• Analytics rise over the past few seasons
• Analytics at the college level
• Innings per start trends in the MLB
• Sticky Substances
  • How long has this gone on in baseball?
  • Should MLB have cracked down mid-season?
  • Is it about the grip or about the spin rates?
  • Aroldis Chapman
  • Do catchers use sticky substances?
• Coaches
  • The impact of pitching coaches
  • Dusty Baker
• Idolizing Derek Jeter
• Devin’s closest friends from the MLB
• The impact of fans on players

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James McCann was a prototypical backup catcher with a strong arm that earned him the nickname “McCannon” but had little else going on during his tenure with the Detroit Tigers (2014-18). He moved to the White Sox in 2019 and made the All-Star game on the back of a BABIP-fueled run that saw him hitting .319/.376/.514 through June with 9 HR and 4 SB. No one thought the .403 BABIP would hold and they were right as it sank to .314 from July 1st on yielding a .231/.285/.410 line.

His stock rose heading into 2020 just because he was an afterthought coming into 2019, but he still didn’t generate that much attention. This time he used a .425 BABIP in his first 17 games to post a .351/.424/.544 line with 3 HR in 66 PA. Regression hit hard in September with a .182 BABIP that dragged his line down to .200/.267/.525, but the power held with 4 more homers. All told, he had a .355 BABIP in 2019-20, 2nd to only Jorge Alfaro (.359) among catchers with at least 500 PA. In fact, McCann was 9th in all of baseball among the 226 hitters with at least 500 PA.

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With draft season upon us, it is important to monitor where players are being drafted on a regular basis. Throughout draft season, I have been doing that work for you with regular updates on the Average Draft Position on NFBC up until Opening Day. You can find all the pieces in this series here. Read the rest of this entry »

Pardon the delay on these as they should’ve been up over a week ago, but I’ve updated the commentary and rankings since then so here’s the latest backstop ranks fresh off the press!

Other positions:

• 1B
• 2B
• SS
• 3B
• OF

Here’s my list.

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Drafts are in full swing and now I am 15+ drafts into the season, here are my current ranks for the catcher position for 2021. I will post updates as things change with signings, injuries, or news in Major League Baseball.

See my other ranks here: C 1B 2B SS 3B OF SP RP
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The Catcher & Utility-Only Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Ryan Bloomfield

Strategy Section

• Catchers
  • How to account for Positional Scarcity with Catchers
  • Differences between 1-Catcher Leagues and 2-Catcher Leagues
  • Streaming Catchers
  • Is J.T. Realmuto worth his current draft price?
• Utility-Only Players
  • Are Utility-Only players undervalued in drafts?
  • “Clogging the Utility Slot”
  • Utility-Only players to gain positional eligibility
    • Marcell Ozuna
    • Colin Moran

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Podcast (beat-the-shift): Play in new window | Download

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With drafts beginning to ramp up, it is important to monitor where players are being draft on a regular basis. Throughout draft season, I will be doing that work for you with regular updates on the Average Draft Position on NFBC up until Opening Day. You can find all the pieces in this series here. Read the rest of this entry »

With auction season upon us, it’s time to start looking closer at positional rankings and auction targets. Throughout February, I’ll be sharing my positional rankings for Ottoneu, focused on points leagues. We’re starting today with catchers, but first a few notes on my methodology and what to expect.

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Drafts are in full swing and now I am 10 drafts into the season, here are my current ranks for the catcher position for 2021. I will post updates every 2-4 weeks as things change with signings, injuries, or news in Major League Baseball. Read the rest of this entry »

With drafts beginning to ramp up, it is important to monitor where players are being draft on a regular basis. Throughout draft season, I will be doing that work for you with regular updates on the Average Draft Position on NFBC up until Opening Day.

Read the rest of this entry »