Justin Mason Catcher Ranks: 3/10/21
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
Justin Mason Catcher Ranks: 3/10/21
| Rk | Player | Team | Position(s) | ADP | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | J.T. Realmuto | PHI | C | 40.02 | Concerns about his injured thumb makes him difficult to draft at this price. |
| 2 | Salvador Perez | KC | C | 87.65 | In spite of missing time with an eye infection, he was a monster. |
| 3 | Will Smith | LAD | C | 105.33 | Could easily be the top catcher in game, but it depends a lot on his volume. |
| 4 | Willson Contreras | CHC | C | 131.54 | Likely to be traded, but would still have a ton of value on any team. |
| 5 | Yasmani Grandal | CWS | C | 132.88 | Should bounceback in what is shaping up to be one of the best lineups in MLB. |
| 6 | Travis d’Arnaud | ATL | C | 148.46 | Love the talent and the situation, but injury history has me dropping him a bit. |
| 7 | Christian Vazquez | BOS | C | 151.65 | Don’t know if 2019 happens again, but he has a very safe floor. |
| 8 | Austin Nola | SD | C | 176.75 | I believe in the talent, but he is now hitting at the bottom of the lineup. |
| 9 | Gary Sanchez | NYY | C | 190.21 | It has been a fall from grace for Sanchez, but he still delievers a lot of power. |
| 10 | James McCann | NYM | C | 190.67 | Love that he gets more time, but that may overexpose him a bit. |
| 11 | Mitch Garver | MIN | C | 224.19 | Do we get the 2019 or the 2020 Garver? Probably somewhere in the middle. |
| 12 | Yadier Molina | STL | C | 272.6 | Back in St. Louis which is great for his value. |
| 13 | Buster Posey | SF | C | 255.81 | Hopefully the time off from last year keeps him healthy. |
| 14 | Daulton Varsho | ARZ | C, OF | 167.5 | Concerns that he could start the year in the minors drops him a bit. |
| 15 | Jorge Alfaro | MIA | C | 275.88 | Talk of a trade for Willson Contreras could mean he is no longer the guy. |
| 16 | Sean Murphy | OAK | C | 171.27 | I am a little worried he won’t be ready to start the season. |
| 17 | Tom Murphy | SEA | C | 333 | Coming off of a lost season, but if healthy, he could be a steal at the price. |
| 18 | Carson Kelly | ARZ | C | 270.73 | I believe he will bounceback a bit from the disappointing 2020. |
| 19 | Omar Narvaez | MLW | C | 339.67 | He improved his defense last year so he should play a lot. |
| 20 | Wilson Ramos | DET | C | 282.73 | Love the move to Detroit, but his ceiling is capped. |
| 21 | Yan Gomes | WAS | C | 320.31 | Boring option, but he will play. |
| 22 | Pedro Severino | BAL | C | 361.27 | Seems like the starter but Rutschman should be up at somepoint. |
| 23 | Ryan Jeffers | MIN | C | 350.81 | Nelson Cruz signing hurts his chances to play more. |
| 24 | Danny Jansen | TOR | C | 311.02 | I am not completely quitting him. |
| 25 | Alejandro Kirk | TOR | C | 332.83 | Roster additions hurts his playing time, but the projections are enticing. |
| 26 | Tyler Stephenson | CIN | C | 390.04 | Love his bat, but the Reds haven’t commited to him. |
| 27 | Jacob Stallings | PIT | C | 385.1 | Going to play a lot, but will that matter much? |
| 28 | Jason Castro | HOU | C | 491.46 | Love the move to Houston and the price. |
| 29 | Max Stassi | LAA | C | 392.56 | Stassi was fantastic when healthy, but we don’t know if he is. |
| 30 | Kurt Suzuki | LAA | C | 401.29 | Signing speaks a lot about the injury of Stassi |
| 31 | Francisco Mejia | TB | C | 373.29 | Prospect pedigree is the only reason to draft him at this point. |
| 32 | Roberto Perez | CLE | C | 476.65 | 2020 was a disaster, but he should get the bulk of time behind the plate. |
| 33 | Adley Rutschman | BAL | C | 461.23 | When will he be up? |
| 34 | Joey Bart | SF | C | 469.48 | Going to start the year in the minors, but kid has a ton of talent. |
| 35 | Tucker Barnhart | CIN | C | 468.42 | He is the starter for now. |
| 36 | Mike Zunino | TB | C | 511.42 | He is going to play, but is that worth much? |
| 37 | Austin Barnes | LAD | C | 518.71 | Plays just enough to annoy Will Smith owners |
| 38 | Kyle Higashioka | NYY | C | 485.75 | If Sanchez continues to struggle, Higgy could find himself playing more. |
| 39 | Luis Torrens | SEA | C | 445.77 | Going to play, but how much time does he lose to Murphy? |
| 40 | Sam Huff | TEX | C | 432.27 | Might start the year in the minors. |
| 41 | Elias Diaz | COL | C | 750.75 | Should play a fair amount and Colorado helps. |
| 42 | Andrew Knizner | STL | C | 543.44 | Now just a backup |
| 43 | Jose Trevino | TEX | C | 438.88 | Will start for now, but I don’t think that matters much. |
| 44 | Martin Maldonado | HOU | C | 482.9 | Now the back up with Castro in town. |
| 45 | Victor Caratini | SD | C | 473.65 | Darvish’s personal catcher should find some time |
| 46 | Jacob Nottingham | MLW | C | 716.21 | Nottingham will backup Narvaez, but is a former prospect of note. |
| 47 | Chance Sisco | BAL | C | 493.96 | Sisco needs to prove he can be viable so that way he finds a team somewhere else. |
| 48 | Austin Romine | CHC | C | 570 | Could become the starter in Chicago if they move Contreras. |
| 49 | Willians Astudillo | MIN | C | 643.19 | Everyone’s favorite player doesn’t have a place to play. |
| 50 | Curt Casali | SF | C | 619.85 | Should back up Posey. |
ADP is from NFBC draft champions leagues over the last month
Justin is the co-host on The Sleeper and The Bust Podcast and writes for Rotographs covering the Roto Riteup as well as other periodic articles. In addition to his work at Rotographs, Justin is the lead fantasy writer/analyst and co-owner for FriendswithFantasyBenefits.com, and the owner of The Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational. He is also a certified addiction treatment counselor. Follow Justin on Twitter @JustinMasonFWFB.
Didn’t Molina already re-sign? The comments have not been updated in several weeks I think.
The comment says “back in St. Louis”
Edit: saw the Knizner comment
Fixed. Missed that one.
I like Jonah Heim’s chances of hitting enough to be relevant.
Grateful for having Will Smith in a keeper league. I was planning on rolling with Omar Narvaez, but then a rebuilding team desperate for pitching offered him to me straight up for Deivi Garcia. I don’t think that could have worked out better for me.
is there a spot open in the league?
I am in a league where we have to start *eight* SPs. That’s probably only an even deal for me.
Might start using “bounceback” as a verb
Where would Kiner-Falefa slot in, since he’s C-eligible in Yahoo?
Probably above Murphy
I rode the IKF train most of last year. Alas, he is no longer c-eligible in ESPN…
Thanks a ton for this! Where would Isiah Kiner-Falefa fit on this list if he was eligible?
He’s eligible at C/SS/3B in Ottoneu leagues. I think he is going to be really valuable in H2H Ottoneu if he is starting at SS. A lot of managers treat Ottoneu H2H as 1 catcher leagues, but with daily lineups you better have at least 2 if you want to accrue points everyday.
I guess Yordan Alvarez isn’t playing this year, given that he doesn’t show up under any of the positions. You all know he’s OF-eligible in most leagues, right?
what are “most leagues”? he’s actually UT-only in “most leagues.”
He’s OF eligible in Yahoo, which is overwhelmingly the most popular fantasy site.
DH only inmost leagues. That is a fact, not an opinion. Yahoo is an exception.
Stellar goalpost move, dude.
Given the state of his knees, he definitely won’t be showing up on Catcher lists…
You’re thinking of Yordan Bench. He’s still a prospect, but I heard he’s a good one. Yordan Fisk is another good one, but I don’t think many people know about him.
LOL
I see that Justin has another typo in the first sentence referring to updating his ranks in the “outfield.”
That is my bad. Wrote it up at 2am and forgot to change the header.
Like Nola, McCann is likely to bat 8th…at least to start the season. They both seem like solid bats at this point but especially if no NL DH, it might limit their production a bit.
Yeah, not having the DH hurts Nola a lot
Posey could be an interesting one. Feel like so many of his issues recently have been little nagging injuries. A year off might be just what he needed. I wouldn’t expect him to get back to what he was at his peak but if he can get back to being a .330-.340 wOBA, he doesn’t have a lot of competition for hitting in the middle of the order.
Completely agree. I think he will get extra ABs at 1st as well.
I think you are slightly underrating the bats on their team. The entire team had a 113 wRC+ last year, and while I doubt they are that good this year, it mostly just seems like they are bad since that ballpark kills fantasy stats (or at least it did prior, remains to be seen). While I don’t mind him for fantasy this year, it is the same reason I don’t mind Molina, quantity, not because I think he will be any good. And depending on the type of league you are in (if it is a standard 5×5 neither Molina nor Posey will hurt you) simply getting at bats is huge. While on a per at bat ratio Molina and Posey will probably be bad, they are both probably going to put up around league average batting average, which is huge out of the catcher spot because they are going to get more at bats than other catchers in timeshares. It is a pure quantity game with those catchers.
Maybe, but the way I see it is (all projections from THE BAT X):
– Belt should be good
– Yaz, La Stella and Dickerson are projected between .330 and .339 wOBA and should be good (though I would point out that it’s hardly like any of these guys have put together 4-5 years of it either and look like locks to be good)
– Slater was tremendous in 104 PA last year and had good MiLB numbers but was pretty unimpressive in 544 career MLB PA before last year
– Flores has put together back to back good years but had a career 98 wRC+ in 2,000 PA before that
– Longoria has had a 100 or less wRC+ 4 years in a row and 109 or less 6 of the last 7 years. Put another way, he has had a wOBA over .327 once in the last 7 seasons which I find incredible. That career resurgence is now 5 years in the past in 2016. He’s so cooked
– Solano has been good 2 years in a row but come on, he’s a 33 yo journeyman who had a career 77 wRC+ before 2019
– Dubon still has some prospect sheen and hasn’t totally embarrassed himself the last 2 years but neither has he shined and his projection is not good
– Crawford . . . .toast
I guess I’m just not seeing a lot of competition for Posey if he hits well. He probably won’t, but as I posted, maybe a year off gets him right again and even if he isn’t peak Posey, he’s still a top catcher if he’s hitting .280-290 with 10-15 HR and 150-ish R + RBI That’s doable if he is spotting Belt at 1B against lefties. . .and hitting well. He has to hit well. I’m not saying he will, I’m saying I could see it . Put it this way – if 2019 POsey shows up then no, he’s down the lineup and nowhere near a top 10 catcher. If 2016-2018 Posey shows up (even without the BABIP inflated 2017)? I think he’s in the middle of the order and a top 10 catcher, maybe even top 5.
“Maldonado is the starter, Castro is the backup” – direct quote from the astros roster projection article at the athletic yesterday. rosterresource projection here has the same
Think you gotta bump Salvy down a few spots just based on BABIP regression alone — he was at .375 last year vs his career .280, and there doesn’t seem to be any change in his batted ball profile or EV to explain it. Just good luck.
He’s gonna help in HR, RBI, and hurt AVG/OBP
Do you guys have a release schedule for the positions tbat haven’t been released since early February? I’d love to see it if it exists. Using you guys as my fantasy go-to this year.
Thanks!
What kind of douchebag downthumbs a comment like this?
Fangraphs comment sections, even in the fantasy sections, doesn’t actually like talking about fantasy for some reason.
Since members are the only ones who can down/up now, you’d think they’d have a modicum of brains about this. I mean, this is the fantasy section. Some people are so bitter that they have to snipe for no reason, I guess.
I think Grandal is interesting in terms of projections. His great OBP offsets the awful BA, counting stats quite good for the position, but his K rate last year was almost 30% despite the fact his swinging strike rate was pretty much average. If his K rate is again 30% or, God forbid, worse, then his BA and counting stats suffer quite a bit. If I had to bet – and I do cuz fantasy – I think the K rate from last year is the outlier, so the K rate goes down, the BA goes up, as do the OBP and the counting stats.
This is picking nits, but is there a way to get accents on the Latin names so that the links work?
Castro will be the backup to Maldonado, not the other way around
Call me a homer, but Sean Murphy should be significantly higher.