Paul Sporer’s 2022 C Rankings
Finishing up my first run of rankings with C, OF, SP, and RP coming. My rankings with the individual comments will come after the new year, but these will lay the groundwork and show you where I’m at to start. These are for 5×5 15-teamers with a 20-game eligibility threshold.
Let’s discuss in the comments!
C Rankings
| RK | PLAYER |
|---|---|
| 1 | J.T. Realmuto |
| 2 | Will Smith |
| 3 | Yasmani Grandal |
| 4 | Salvador Perez |
| 5 | Daulton Varsho |
| 6 | Tyler Stephenson |
| 7 | Willson Contreras |
| 8 | Keibert Ruiz |
| 9 | Alejandro Kirk |
| 10 | Sean Murphy |
| 11 | Max Stassi |
| 12 | Omar Narváez |
| 13 | Carson Kelly |
| 14 | Travis d’Arnaud |
| 15 | Mitch Garver |
| 16 | Luis Torrens |
| 17 | Tucker Barnhart |
| 18 | Austin Nola |
| 19 | Adley Rutschman |
| 20 | Gary Sánchez |
| 21 | Mike Zunino |
| 22 | Danny Jansen |
| 23 | Elias Díaz |
| 24 | Christian Vázquez |
| 25 | Yadier Molina |
| 26 | Joey Bart |
| 27 | Tom Murphy |
| 28 | James McCann |
| 29 | Eric Haase |
| 30 | Francisco Mejía |
| 31 | Cal Raleigh |
| 32 | Riley Adams |
| 33 | Jonah Heim |
| 34 | Jacob Stallings |
| 35 | Ryan Jeffers |
| 36 | Luis Campusano |
| 37 | Yan Gomes |
| 38 | William Contreras |
| 39 | Victor Caratini |
| 40 | Roberto Pérez |
| 41 | MJ Melendez |
| 42 | Gabriel Moreno |
| 43 | Sam Huff |
| 44 | Jorge Alfaro |
| 45 | Pedro Severino |
is the perez ranking more about his regression in counting stats or health related? Maybe you can’t bank on him having 130+ more ABs than the next catcher but the royals showed they are pretty comfortable giving him his ABs at DH. Even if the NL gets a DH, Phillies/Dodgers are they amenable to using their star catchers everyday?
I think you would see a small uptick in PA’s. Even 5% more would be significant.
For a dude who’s not even listed as a starter on the current depth chart — which also has three Cs listed — Kirk seems awfully high.
Kirk can really rake, enough that he’ll get a fair share of DH PAs too
Wild that after the insane couple of seasons Salvy just had he’s still only ranked 4th. Unless you’re in an OPB league I’d rather have him than any other catcher except possibly Smith. In particular, putting him below Grandal is just incomprehensible. (And honestly he was so far ahead of Smith and Realmuto the past couple years that you could easily make a case for him at #1 even with aging and regression.)
Yeah, I have to agree with this. Realmuto does look like he’s good for 15-20 HR and 10 or so stolen bases with a .270 batting average… but if Perez continues mashing wouldn’t that look better for all concerned than whatever Realmuto might do? Realmuto will be 31 years old in March, so unless he pulls a Perez he may pale in comparison once again.
Garver is being overlooked. He’s a guy I think can put up solid value. Does depend on Jeffers a little, but managing 300 PA will be fine for Garver.
Kirk needs more certainty to be this high. Its not a good sign when Sanchez has better certainty.
Are #31-39 really close? Otherwise I’m wondering if Gomes might be a tad underrated here. Last year he was at .252 with 14 HR, and played in a pitcher’s park part of the year. His also has earned a wRC+ of 80 or higher over the past 5 years. Steamer projects him at .249 with 7 HR with just 212 PA.
But there is a strong possibility that Contreras could play some DH, opening up PT for Gomes. Or as a FA next season, Contreras could be traded, again giving Gomes more opps for AB.
While I do not think Contreras will be traded pre-season, where would you rank Gomes if that happened?
(I do think the odds are good that he will be traded mid-season, unless the Cubs surprise us).
How is Zunino 21st..??
Your guaranteed a BA of around .200 as that 35%k ratio has been pretty consistent. However, people may be underestimating the power. No one benefitted from the new ball with lower RPMs on spin than Zunino as he hunts offspead mistakes. Mejia showed promise too though the EVs were low but he’s also only 25 last year. Possible good combo for late I. Drafts if can manage day to day starts.
These rankings really need to at least include blurbs or something because that seems insane to me
I feel like I’ve been clear about the comment rankings are coming after the New Year, but also, most rankings come w/out comments so I’m surprised to see some pushback on not including comments on this run.
Plus, I’ve been active in the comment sections of each post. I don’t even know what part you can’t believe re: Zunino. Is he too high or too low? His ’21 was a clear outlier. He will be 31 and with that horrendous AVG, his downside is looowwww.
EVERY catcher’s downside is extremely low though and Zunino made a legitimate change to his swing so there’s no reason to assume he’ll stop hitting HRs. There’s like 10 guys ahead of him who’d be lucky to hit 15 HRs and could easily end up hitting .220 anyway. Put your faith in power Paul!!!!
I don’t think the “everyone’s downside is bad” axiom is applicable here bc it lets Zunino off the hook. He holds substantially worse downside than most of the 20 guys ahead of him and those he isn’t worse are comparables like Gary Sanchez.
I also don’t really think he’s appreciably better. I think he just played out to his 90th (or better) percentile of production. He was dreadful vR, still has a ton of swing-and-miss, and was a major AVG drain in his best year ever (26th at C, min. 300 PA). The funny thing is I love the player bc of MLB The Show. He’s really fun in that game and I definitely root for him. But he’s just someone I see much upside in for fantasy purposes.
I’m with Paul here. He hit more flyballs (good), but also ran a 30% (!) HR/FB rate, which probably isn’t sustainable. Judge is the only guy with 1500 PA and a 30% rate, and while a couple others are close (Ohtani, Franmil, Gallo), I wouldn’t bet on him repeating it.
He had the 48th highest ISO since 1945, out of 16000+ seasons with 300+ PA. Trout was 27th in 2019, but hasn’t sniffed the top 100 in any other season.
So it’s not impossible he repeats, but last year was almost certainly the high water mark. There is a ton of downside and no upside.
He may not even keep the job. I would have him even lower. Give him a .200 average and 18 home runs. Not good.
Exactly and his back up catcher is a better hitter…..easily.
Just fine without comments. Comments will come on Sleeper and the Bust.
I’m pro-Zunino and happily grabbed him off FA in April of last year and rode that all year long.
Because he is a Mendoza line hitter who hit 13 home runs in almost 400 at bats previous to last year. And his backup is a better hitter than he is. I would take a bet that Zunino is no more than 50-50 share of the catching.
yeah i don’t get Grandal over Salvy, unless this is OBP. Even if you assume Grandal gets the same number of plate appearances, you’re looking at a 30 point BA diff. All other categories seem about the same. Is there a health concern with Salvy?