March Rankings Update – Catchers
We are updating our rankings for the stretch run of draft season! Today we’ll have third base and catcher.
We’re using Yahoo! eligibility requirements which is 5 starts or 10 appearances. These rankings assume the standard 5×5 categories and a re-draft league. If we forgot someone, please let us know in the comments and we’ll make sure he’s added for the updates. If you have questions for a specific ranker on something he did, let us know in the comments. We can also be reached via Twitter:
There will be differences, sharp differences, within the rankings. The rankers have different philosophies when it comes to ranking, some of which you’re no doubt familiar with through previous iterations. Of course the idea that we’d all think the same would be silly because then what would be the point of including multiple rankers?! Think someone should be higher or lower? Make a case. Let us know why you think that. The chart is sortable. If a ranker didn’t rank someone that the others did, he was given that ranker’s last rank +1.
March Updates:
February Editions:
Key:
- AVG– just the average of the seven ranking sets
- AVG– the average minus the high and low rankings
- SPLIT– the difference between the high and low rankings
—
| NAME | Paul S | Brad | Mike | Jeff | Al | Justin | AVG | Adj. AVG | Split |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buster Posey | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 1 |
| Jonathan Lucroy | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3 |
| Gary Sanchez | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2.8 | 2.8 | 2 |
| Kyle Schwarber | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3.7 | 3.5 | 2 |
| Willson Contreras | 6 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 6.7 | 6.3 | 5 |
| J.T. Realmuto | 10 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 7.5 | 7.3 | 4 |
| Salvador Perez | 14 | 11 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 8.0 | 7.5 | 10 |
| Russell Martin | 7 | 7 | 12 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 8.5 | 8.0 | 5 |
| Yasmani Grandal | 8 | 5 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8.5 | 8.8 | 6 |
| Evan Gattis | 5 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 7 | 9.2 | 9.3 | 8 |
| Brian McCann | 9 | 9 | 14 | 13 | 5 | 11 | 10.2 | 10.5 | 9 |
| Welington Castillo | 12 | 12 | 16 | 14 | 12 | 14 | 13.3 | 13.0 | 4 |
| Yadier Molina | 17 | 15 | 8 | 12 | 14 | 15 | 13.5 | 14.0 | 9 |
| Stephen Vogt | 11 | 16 | 9 | 11 | 21 | 16 | 14.0 | 13.5 | 12 |
| Matt Wieters | 16 | 14 | 13 | 16 | 15 | 12 | 14.3 | 14.5 | 4 |
| Mike Zunino | 21 | 20 | 15 | 15 | 11 | 18 | 16.7 | 17.0 | 10 |
| Cameron Rupp | 22 | 13 | 18 | 20 | 16 | 13 | 17.0 | 16.8 | 9 |
| Travis d’Arnaud | 19 | 18 | 17 | 19 | 18 | 21 | 18.7 | 18.5 | 4 |
| Devin Mesoraco | 15 | 30 | 21 | 25 | 19 | 17 | 21.2 | 20.5 | 15 |
| Wilson Ramos | 18 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 17 | 23 | 21.3 | 21.8 | 7 |
| Tom Murphy | 34 | 25 | 19 | 18 | 20 | 19 | 22.5 | 20.8 | 16 |
| Yan Gomes | 20 | 32 | 25 | 17 | 23 | 22 | 23.2 | 22.5 | 15 |
| Austin Hedges | 23 | 17 | 20 | 21 | 29 | 35 | 24.2 | 23.3 | 18 |
| Francisco Cervelli | 31 | 26 | 22 | 23 | 22 | 24 | 24.7 | 23.8 | 9 |
| James McCann | 28 | 27 | 23 | 26 | 30 | 25 | 26.5 | 26.5 | 7 |
| Derek Norris | 25 | 19 | 34 | 32 | 26 | 29 | 27.5 | 28.0 | 15 |
| Tony Wolters | 13 | 29 | 33 | 31 | 35 | 27 | 28.0 | 30.0 | 22 |
| Jason Castro | 38 | 38 | 31 | 22 | 28 | 20 | 29.5 | 29.8 | 18 |
| Sandy Leon | 30 | 33 | 30 | 29 | 27 | 31 | 30.0 | 30.0 | 6 |
| Chris Herrmann | 29 | 28 | 32 | 28 | 25 | 40 | 30.3 | 29.3 | 15 |
| Tyler Flowers | 37 | 34 | 27 | 27 | 24 | 36 | 30.8 | 31.0 | 13 |
| Andrew Susac | 26 | 23 | 29 | 30 | 41 | 38 | 31.2 | 30.8 | 18 |
| Blake Swihart | 24 | 24 | 60 | 37 | 32 | 33 | 35.0 | 31.5 | 36 |
| Jett Bandy | 36 | 39 | 28 | 51 | 36 | 26 | 36.0 | 34.8 | 25 |
| Martin Maldonado | 33 | 41 | 39 | 33 | 41 | 39 | 37.7 | 38.0 | 8 |
| Geovany Soto | 39 | 41 | 26 | 35 | 31 | 55 | 37.8 | 36.5 | 29 |
| Austin Barnes | 41 | 36 | 36 | 43 | 41 | 30 | 37.8 | 38.5 | 13 |
| Chris Iannetta | 27 | 41 | 35 | 41 | 41 | 55 | 40.0 | 39.5 | 28 |
| Miguel Montero | 35 | 37 | 45 | 51 | 41 | 32 | 40.2 | 39.5 | 19 |
| Jorge Alfaro | 32 | 40 | 60 | 51 | 33 | 28 | 40.7 | 39.0 | 32 |
You guys all have Gattis ranked as a starter in all league sizes. Where do you see his playing time coming from with the additions of McCann, Beltran and Reddick?
I think you can ask much the same thing of Contreras. If Schwarber hits like everyone expects him to hit, he is going to play. Maddon is going to have to balance PT between Schwarber, Zobrist and Baez between 2B and LF so Schwarber will be pushed to C quite often. Then at C, Montero is probably going to get crunched for PT but will still get some games back there. Unless they push Heyward to CF and free up a corner OF spot or trade Montero, I don’t see where Contreras is going to get more than 300 to maybe 400 PA.
I think Contreras is going to play as the everyday catcher. I would be very surprised to see Schwarber behind the dish very often. The most important thing for Schwarber is to stay healthy. Catching will not help him stay healthy.
Gattis I do see having some playing time concerns. However Beltran and Reddick are not beacons of health, and McCann isn’t going to play every day. I see maybe an even split behind the dish, and Gattis will find his way in the lineup.
I agree with you on Contreras. With Gattis, that’s all conjecture and maybe it’s fine if you’re playing in a roto format but I don’t see how can take him in an H2H league.
No, Schwarber will not be “pushed to catcher quite often”… there is absolutely no talk of that in Chicago. Management has made it quite clear that he’s an emergency/once every couple of weeks guy. Schwarber has even admitted as much. Bryant, Russell, and Rizzo are the only guaranteed full time starters. Heyward’s playing time will depend on his offense. I’d bet about 500PA for the rest of the guys as Maddon wants to keep everybody fresh.
I was basing that on a few articles from a month or two ago where Schwarber was saying he wanted to stay in the mix at catcher. I do see now that in the last week or so Maddon is saying Schwarber is effectively the emergency catcher and probably won’t even top 75 innings at catcher, mostly in late-inning matchup situations.
My bad. . . .
Oh snap, I missed that, too. Last I’d heard was that he was supposed to get into the rotation with some regularity.
Sorry if that first line or two was a little “forceful”. You’re right, Schwarber really wants to, the team is trying to steer him away without squashing his dream.
No worries Brians – good info to have as it will probably affect playing time for someone. I thought Schwarber was going to catch at least a little bit. Now I know he probably isn’t.
If Schwarber shows he can handle left field full time defensively, he’s going to catch very infrequently. The lineup is so much better with Schwarber in LF, Heyward in CF, and Zobrist in RF with Contreras behind the plate.
Contreras will get 400+ PAs and start 120 games behind the plate.