Paul Sporer’s 2022 Catcher Rankings with Comments
The difference being cited is from my first run of rankings. These are for 2-catcher leagues with 20-game eligibility. In 1-catcher leagues, you can push up some of the small sample beasts like Garver because replacement value is so much higher.
2022 C Rankings with Comments
| RK | CATCHER | TM | POS | Last Rk. | Diff. | NOTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | J.T. Realmuto | PHI | C | 1 | 0 | Perfectly solid season that included a career-high 13 SBs |
| 2 | Will Smith | LAD | C | 2 | 0 | Brilliant skills, just 27 y/o, and part of a wonderful lineup |
| 3 | Salvador Perez | KCR | C | 4 | 1 | I’m on an island w/him at 3, but can he maintain a 25%+ HR/FB rate? |
| 4 | Yasmani Grandal | CWS | C | 3 | -1 | Insane ’21 rates likely won’t hold, but should net more than 375 PA as well |
| 5 | Daulton Varsho | ARI | C/OF | 5 | 0 | Non-catching catcher w/spd is enticing; .290 AVG, 10 HR, 5 SB in 219 2H PA |
| 6 | Willson Contreras | CHC | C | 7 | 1 | Feels a bit overlooked after another strong yr (109 wRC+, 21 HR, 5 SB) |
| 7 | Tyler Stephenson | CIN | C/1B | 6 | -1 | Betting on size (6’4, 225) and scouting raw pwr (65) to deliver HR boost |
| 8 | Keibert Ruiz | WAS | C | 8 | 0 | Elite contact is rare at C and carries the profile even if pwr takes time |
| 9 | Elias Díaz | COL | C | 23 | 14 | After a .381 OPS thru May (88 PA), exploded w/a .897 OPS & 17 HR in 283 PA |
| 10 | Omar Narváez | MIL | C | 12 | 2 | Showed ’20 was a small sample blip; bankable double-digit pop & solid AVG |
| 11 | Mitch Garver | MIN | C | 15 | 4 | His ’21 is natural regression off that insane ’19; Cruz departure could add PA |
| 12 | Sean Murphy | OAK | C | 10 | -2 | Elite D locks in PT; should eventually reach the 20-HR range |
| 13 | Alejandro Kirk | TOR | C | 9 | -4 | Love the talent, but logjam is hard to overlook at a defense-first position |
| 14 | Gary Sánchez | NYY | C | 20 | 6 | 2016-17 is never coming back, but 23 HR per 400 PA since ’18 is a solid floor |
| 15 | Max Stassi | LAA | C | 11 | -4 | Huge fan of him, but hasn’t topped 88 gms entering his age-31 season |
| 16 | Carson Kelly | ARI | C | 13 | -3 | Hit just .219/.301/.347 w/7 HR from May on (6 HR in Apr.) + 2 inj. (toe, wrist) |
| 17 | Christian Vázquez | BOS | C | 24 | 7 | Volume and chip-in speed drive the profile even if the bat doesn’t rebound |
| 18 | Adley Rutschman | BAL | C | 19 | 1 | Should spend most of yr in BAL & premium skills can take over from there |
| 19 | Yadier Molina | STL | C | 25 | 6 | Top 10 effort in ’21 due to contact & volume; solid floor bet even at age-39 |
| 20 | Mike Zunino | TBR | C | 21 | 1 | Made most of limited contact w/33 HR, but he’s so volatile… be careful |
| 21 | Travis d’Arnaud | ATL | C | 14 | -7 | Brutal health track record makes the 33 y/o a tough bet; not C1-worthy |
| 22 | Austin Nola | SDP | C | 18 | -4 | 3x on IL(finger, knee, thumb) ate up ’21; still a + bat & 4% HR/FB will regress |
| 23 | Luis Torrens | SEA | C | 16 | -7 | Bat absolutely plays at DH and might not have to catch a single gm all yr |
| 24 | Joey Bart | SFG | C | 26 | 2 | Prospect Cs take time & he has just 117 MLB PA so far; don’t forget him |
| 25 | Yan Gomes | CHC | C | 37 | 12 | Should find 300-350 PA even if Contreras stays and be a useful C2 |
| 26 | Danny Jansen | TOR | C | 22 | -4 | 2 IL stints (hamstring) cost him 2 mos.; stuck in timeshare w/TOR |
| 27 | James McCann | NYM | C | 28 | 1 | Rough transition to NYM; locked in PT & a little improvement is C2-viable |
| 28 | Tucker Barnhart | DET | C | 17 | -11 | Bat likely to decline (98 pt road OPS drop), but defense will help DET SPs |
| 29 | Jacob Stallings | MIA | C | 34 | 5 | If you prefer to set it & forget it w/volume C2s, Stallings is your guy |
| 30 | Eric Haase | DET | C | 29 | -1 | Fun 2-mo. run last yr, but I don’t see much OF PT coming |
| 31 | MJ Melendez | KCR | C | 41 | 10 | KC open to pos. move to get him in lineup after 41 HR at AA/AAA last yr |
| 32 | Cal Raleigh | SEA | C | 31 | -1 | Could be a sneaky breakout if playing time opens up for him |
| 33 | Manny Piña | ATL | C | #N/A | #N/A | An interesting C2 as his .162 BABIP has to regress w/his 18% K, right? |
| 34 | Francisco Mejía | TBR | C | 30 | -3 | Solid C2 season (107 wRC+), but PT might be capped behind Zunino |
| 35 | Jonah Heim | TEX | C | 33 | -1 | Flashed some pop and should improve his AVG as .210 BABIP regresses |
| 36 | Tom Murphy | SEA | C | 27 | -8 | Unlikely to recapture ’19 magic (126 wRC+) and Raleigh could curb PT |
| 37 | Riley Adams | WAS | C | 32 | -4 | Capped strong yr w/good 90 PA stint in WAS; could wind up a worthy C2 |
| 38 | Pedro Severino | MIL | C | 45 | -5 | Cheap C2 pop, but probably won’t play enough to match ’21 output |
| 39 | Ryan Jeffers | MIN | C | 35 | -2 | Only 25 y/o, but troubling contact (37% K) could stifle any growth |
| 40 | Austin Allen | OAK | C | #N/A | #N/A | Really strong bat in the minors (4x 20+ HR), but will his glove curb PT upside? |
| 41 | Luis Campusano | SDP | C | 36 | -3 | Strong prospect, but weak glove and a crowded C group will hurt |
| 42 | Roberto Pérez | PIT | C | 40 | -5 | A poor man’s Stallings (career 76 wRC+) |
| 43 | Martín Maldonado | HOU | C | #N/A | #N/A | A rich man’s Perez, but w/a better backup that could eat some PT |
| 44 | Jason Castro | HOU | C | #N/A | #N/A | Still has some pop, though injuries are piling up and he’s 35 y/o |
| 45 | Jose Trevino | TEX | C | #N/A | #N/A | Monitor Sam Huff and if he returns to catching this yr |
| 46 | Gabriel Moreno | TOR | C | 42 | 0 | Just be aware of the 22 y/o prospect; TOR is logjammed, but he’s awesome! |
| 47 | William Contreras | ATL | C | 38 | -5 | It wasn’t a terrible debut, but the PT isn’t there right now |
| 48 | Victor Caratini | SDP | C | 39 | -5 | Could be squeezed into a 3-catcher rotation |
| 49 | Curt Casali | SFG | C | #N/A | #N/A | Could spike a 10+ HR season if it’s more of a 55/45 split w/Bart |
| 50 | Jorge Alfaro | SDP | C/OF | 44 | -3 | Would be interesting if he found some PT in the OF, espec. w/his speed |
Made with two-catcher leagues in mind.
For my money, Smith’s my #1 C. Maybe I’m wrong, but with the NL DH, I’d be surprised to see that big a differential in ABs between those top two catchers that Steamer is projecting, and maybe if their PT ends up being closer, Smith’s strength in HRs and OBP/SLG will outweigh JTR’s SB advantage.
I may be overrating the old adage of the magical “age 27” year of high production, which for Smith is 2022, though.
I love him and can definitely get behind him at 1. I think any of the top 3 and maybe even Grandal can be justifiably ranked 1
Grandal could be #1 an OBP league maybe, definitely not a standard league
What no Matt Thaiss…
Well, he’s not C-eligible yet. I had the same issue with Sam Huff, but used Jose Trevino’s blurb to mention him. I do think Thaiss is worth keeping tabs on for deep leagues.
Good stuff!
Tho Pina is not behind Zunino…u might have flipped a couple of comments?
how do we feel about Elias Diaz at number 9, buccos fans?
I don’t get it, his “explosion” in the second half was only a 119 WRC+ and was over 194 PA. He also has a 20 point Home/Away spread in WRC+. Good for him that he had a few above average months. I think that people are severely overreacting to a partially Coors fueled 2nd half.
I don’t think anyone in Pittsburgh (myself included) is pining for him. He had several chances over his 6+ years here to beat out Stallings/Cervelli and never could. Even if the breakout is real, that just means we loose 100 vs 104 games this year.
The bigger breakout was with his defense all of a sudden being plus plus. He was pretty awful in PIT behind the dish (-1.5WAR season his last year) and Stallings was so far superior that I cant complain.
Completely agree, it was a bit tongue in cheek. It’s completely unfathomable to me that he’ll be the 9th best catcher this year, it’s projecting on a base of talent that doesn’t exist, in or out of Coors.
I find wRC+ somewhat useless for Colorado players. I think they get WAYYYY too strong of a penalty. Apart from the fact that no league actually uses wRC+, there’s also the fact that his .774 OPS was 9th among the 30 Cs w/at least 300 PA.
I also think you’re kinda selling him short overall. He was great for 4 months (OPS ranged from .842 to .961) and the 2 bad months were marred by disgustingly low BABIPs at .154 and .161, respectively.
This wasn’t just 1 month carrying the entire stat line like Jazz Chisholm (awkward comp since they’re vastly different players, but he was the 1st one to pop into my mind — .969 OPS in Apr, never higher than .705 rest of way).
Bottom line is I think you’re probably underrating the value of Coors and how low a threshold he needs to clear to be a good fantasy C. He might not put up another run like his Jun-Oct (.897 OPS), but some of that regression will be quelled by not putting up a .381 OPS in the 1st two months.
Late-career catcher breakouts are relatively common, espec. when aided by the best park in the game.
Just a thumbs-up on the wRC+ comment – I see so many folks use that for fantasy analysis, but it can be pretty misleading since park factors do affect the actual production you get from players. It can be useful in evaluating the true talent of minor leaguers, though.
I get Adley gets dinged by being a rookie and maybe not being up super early, but my goodness, Max Stassi is ahead of him? I feel like it’s a pretty safe bet that Adley plays more games this year even despite his AAA time.
Don’t disagree, but Max Stassi is also surprisingly good
That’s fair, but for me it’s not just the simple 1:1 comparison. I have a general reluctance to prospect Cs in redraft leagues, but it’s also the buying an extra C to cover Adley. Then how long til he’s actually up and is he going to be good once up (probably, but far from a guarantee)?
I love Stassi and I’m fully aware of his health woes, but I like to bet on guys where the skills are strong and we only need to spike some health for a breakout. If he can get to 400 PA, he’s a 20 HR bat.
In a ten-team A.L. only H2H….my best impact second half $1 flyer to stash or stash and trade are Melendez (KCR) or Raleigh SEA)?
I feel like haase is going to get more at bats than people think. Guys on year two tend to play through stuff more often. Just a gut feeling.
You’re really just going to write off 48 homers with catcher eligibility as a product of HR/FB rates? Perez has clearly shifted his approach in favor of more power (higher SwStr%, higher barrel%). I’m no royals fan but Perez is the easy #1 for me.
For real. Sal did the same thing in the shortened season, too. He’s as good a bet as any catcher to be on the high end of games played because KC likes to DH him on his off days. He’s the only C projected for even 27 HR or 85 RBI; his projections are for 37 and 100.