Jake Mailhot’s 2026 Tiered Rankings for Ottoneu Points: Catcher

Credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

With the two largest position groups out of the way, the Ottoneu rankings push takes a breather with the smallest position group to finish this week. You can find all the information about the format and methodology for these rankings in Chad’s introduction.

Jake Mailhot’s Ottoneu Tiered Rankings for Points Leagues: C | MI | OF
Chad Young’s Ottoneu Tiered Rankings for Points Leagues: C | MI | OF
Chad Young’s Ottoneu Tiered Rankings for 4×4: C | MI | OF

Here are few more notes about my process:

  • Projected points. I’ve been building my own homebrewed projections for the past decade plus, ever since I started playing Ottoneu, and they form the basis for the rankings below. They’re nothing overly complicated; essentially just a MARCEL-esque projection using three years of historical data filtered through a rough aging curve and adjusted for the current run environment. I also include a collection of up to five public projection systems (ZiPS, Steamer, OOPSY, THE BAT, and PECOTA) to provide some additional context. That gives each player a wealth of data sources to form their projection. Currently, the projections below only include Steamer and THE BAT projections. I will update the rankings in February once ZiPS, OOPSY, and PECOTA are released.
  • P/G vs P/PA. Points per game played is the gold standard by which you should be evaluating players in Ottoneu. I won’t argue with that. That measure does have some drawbacks, particularly for players who pinch hit, pinch run, or are used as defensive substitutions often. Those limited appearances can skew a player’s P/G lower than what they’re producing when they’re getting three or four plate appearances when they start a game. To provide a little more context for these kinds of players, I’m projecting players using points per plate appearance. That measure should give us a better idea of how a player produces no matter how he’s used by his team.

Just to reiterate a point that Chad makes in his introduction: yes, these rankings are presented ordinally, but the tier a player appears in is much more important than if they’re ranked 16th or 28th. Within tiers, players are generally ranked by their projected Pts/PA but that doesn’t necessarily mean I think one player is significantly more valuable than another in the same tier. I’ve got notes on the top 20-ish players below and I’ll add more notes when I update the rankings next month. Let’s get into it.

Ottoneu Points C Tiered Rankings
Tier Rank Player Position Projected Pts Pts/PA Notes
$28-$35 1 Cal Raleigh C 923.3 1.44 Probably won’t hit 60 home runs again but is clearly the best catcher in baseball. Huge power supported by real plate discipline gains in 2025.
$15-$20 2 Will Smith C 652.7 1.34 2025 was his best offensive season since ’20 but it might have been BABIP driven. He did have career-high walk rate and contact quality looked a lot like it did back in ’20.
$15-$20 3 Ben Rice C/1B 673.7 1.32 Huge breakout in 2025. Should get regular at-bats as 1B in New York, but will probably loose C eligibility in 2027.
$15-$20 4 Shea Langeliers C 673.9 1.32 Another huge breakout in 2025. Cut strikeout rate by 7.5 points and absolutely mashed in 2H (176 wRC+).
$15-$20 5 Iván Herrera C 633.7 1.28 Another huge breakout in 2025. Should get regular at-bats as DH in St. Louis and could retain C eligibility for 2027.
$15-$20 6 Hunter Goodman C 670.4 1.28 This tier is full of breakout catchers! I like his foundation a little less than the other players in this tier — poor plate approach gives him a low floor.
$15-$20 7 William Contreras C 793.0 1.27 Played through a fractured finger in 2025 and his power output dropped. Should bounce back if healthy.
$10-$14 8 Drake Baldwin C 592.6 1.23 Very impressive debut in 2025 that earned him ROY honors. Good plate approach and solid contact quality give him a high floor.
$6-$9 9 Alejandro Kirk C 548.7 1.19 High contact approach might be a little BABIP dependent, but improved contact quality significantly in 2025.
$6-$9 10 Gabriel Moreno C 459.8 1.18 Has dealt with a number of injuries over the last few years, but has been productive when healthy.
$6-$9 11 Salvador Perez C/1B 699.4 1.14 The home runs are nice, but that’s about it. He gets regular at-bats whether its at C, 1B, or DH.
$6-$9 12 Adley Rutschman C 610.3 1.12 He’s been below replacement level for a season and a half now but the promise of a huge bounce back is still present.
$3-$5 13 Francisco Alvarez C 450.5 1.14 Dramatically improved contact quality after returning from midseason demotion but hand injuries derailed his progress.
$3-$5 14 Yainer Diaz C 597.8 1.12 Two straight years of declining production. Aggressive approach means he’s BABIP dependent and power has slid backwards.
$3-$5 15 Ryan Jeffers C 545.5 1.12 Power disappeared in 2025 but plate discipline improved.
$3-$5 16 Tyler Stephenson C 471.6 1.11 Big improvement in contact quality but strikeout rate jumped over 30%.
$3-$5 17 Carter Jensen C 355.7 1.11 Really impressive late season debut in 2025. Playing time in question, but should take over full-time catching duties soon.
$3-$5 18 Kyle Teel C 449.1 1.10 Solid debut season in 2025. Will likely fall back to earth a bit when his BABIP regresses, but solid skills to build on.
$3-$5 19 Agustín Ramírez C 549.9 1.10 Another young catcher whose debut season in 2025 was a little rocky. Projections think he’ll take a step forward.
$3-$5 20 Samuel Basallo C/1B 406.6 1.10 Struggled a bit in his brief call up in 2025 but is still just 21. Position is a question mark but should force his way into the lineup.
$1-$2 21 Sean Murphy C 372.6 1.08
$1-$2 22 J.T. Realmuto C 525.3 1.08
$1-$2 23 Victor Caratini C/1B 339.2 1.07
$1-$2 24 Carson Kelly C 396.4 1.07
$1-$2 25 Austin Wells C 472.7 1.07
$1-$2 26 Moisés Ballesteros C 372.4 1.05
$0-$1 27 Josue Briceño C N/A N/A
$0-$1 27 Dillon Dingler C 435.2 1.06
$0-$1 28 Joey Bart C 331.8 1.04
$0-$1 29 Danny Jansen C 335.1 1.02
$0-$1 30 Carlos Narváez C 417.9 1.01
$0-$1 31 Edgar Quero C 427.6 1.00
$0-$1 32 Logan O’Hoppe C 439.2 0.98
$0-$1 33 Harry Ford C 233.5 0.98
$0-$1 34 Kyle Higashioka C 271.5 0.98
$0-$1 35 Dalton Rushing C 189.7 0.96
$0-$1 36 Bo Naylor C 398.1 0.96
$0 37 Ethan Salas C N/A N/A
$0 38 Gary Sánchez C 253.9 1.05
$0 39 Liam Hicks C/1B 279.4 0.99
$0 40 Connor Wong C 299.9 0.98
$0 41 Luis Campusano C 309.9 0.95
$0 42 James McCann C 177.8 0.94
$0 43 Mitch Garver C 278.1 0.94
$0 44 Travis d’Arnaud C 236.9 0.94
$0 45 Miguel Amaya C 249.0 0.93
$0 46 Elias Díaz C 252.3 0.89
$0 47 Endy Rodriguez C/1B 98.3 0.88
$0 48 Jake Rogers C 199.7 0.86
$0 49 Freddy Fermin C 354.6 0.86
$0 50 Reese McGuire C 163.1 0.86
$0 51 Keibert Ruiz C 307.8 0.85
$0 52 Rafael Marchán C 259.4 0.84
$0 53 Pedro Pagés C 276.6 0.84
$0 54 Jose Trevino C 216.3 0.83
$0 55 Jacob Stallings C 152.1 0.82
$0 56 Jonah Heim C 313.4 0.82
$0 57 Hunter Feduccia C 177.3 0.80
$0 58 Patrick Bailey C 368.9 0.80
$0 59 Henry Davis C 192.7 0.78
$0 60 Nick Fortes C 221.0 0.77
$0 61 Korey Lee C 183.3 0.72
$0 62 Ben Rortvedt C 138.8 0.71
$0 63 Christian Vázquez C 175.6 0.70





Jake Mailhot is a contributor to FanGraphs. A long-suffering Mariners fan, he also writes about them for Lookout Landing. Follow him on BlueSky @jakemailhot.

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MoateMember since 2022
1 minute ago

Thank you for the support on the format (especially the comments), hugely important for my upcoming redraft!