Rankings Update: Catchers

by
May 10, 2010

Back after a week lost to illness, here are your catcher rankings. wOBA numbers are listed as “(current wOBA, ZiPS ROS)”. If the wOBA numbers are a couple of points off, don’t sweat it, because it’s just me writing these things up ahead of time.

Big Three
 Joe Mauer (.388, .414)
Brian McCann (.347, .370)
Victor Martinez (.316, .364)

Victor had himself a week. He still has a nice LD%, unlucky BABIP and bad HR/FB%, but they are getting closer to normal. Enjoy the rest of your season with one of the games top catchers.

Happy to Have
 Matt Wieters (.334, .341)
Russell Martin (.309, .340)
Jorge Posada (.406, .351)
Geovany Soto (.484, .366)

Half of the time Wieters puts the ball in play, it’s on the ground. Not good. If Jorge wasn’t so old, I’d be more excited about his start. Oh, and a HR/FB% of 27.8% doesn’t help his cause, either. Geo Soto has been tearing it up, and he’s walking more than he’s striking out thus far.

Name That Molina
 Bengie Molina (.369, .324)
Yadier Molina (.358, .337)
Ryan Doumit (.364, .346)

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Bengie’s average will go down, but he should show more power than he’s displayed thus far. If Ryan Doumit wouldn’t get injured every year, he’d be so much cooler.

I Am Jack’s Catcher
 Kurt Suzuki (.367, .336)
Carlos Ruiz (.388, .339)
Ivan Rodriguez (.400, .299)
John Baker (.301, .320)

Suzuki wasn’t all that impressive early on, and an intercostal strain seems like something that could bother him when he comes back. I’m not overly worried yet, so let’s wait before pronouncing him dead.

Problem Children
 A.J. Pierzynski (.253, .319)
Jeff Clement (.231, .340)
Miguel Olivo (.348, .313)
Chris Snyder (.372, .354)
Miguel Montero (.497, .351)
Mike Napoli (.321, .362)

When Pierzynski’s .202 BABIP regresses to the mean, it’s going to be glorious. Glorious! For someone who is supposed to be a power hitter, Jeffy likes to hit the ball on the ground. Is it okay if I call him Jeffy?

The Rest of ‘Em
 Chris Iannetta (.243, .343)
Rod Barajas (.355, .308)
Jake Fox (.247, .326)
John Buck (.353, .317)
Carlos Santana

Welcome Fox and Buck to this list. And as far as Iannetta goes, getting sent to the minors is a good thing, right?





 

Zach is the creator and co-author of RotoGraphs' Roto Riteup series, and RotoGraphs' second-longest tenured writer. You can follow him on twitter.

11 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Chris
16 years ago

Hate to say it cuz I totally wimped out and did not pick him up, but Ryan Hanigan and his increased time behind the dish in the Reds platoon. He’s been raking, any thoughts on him?

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Ben
16 years ago

Any insight why Barajas is so low on the list while Baker shows up two groups above him? I am hurting at the catcher position, and have Barajas, but could easily pick up Baker, but my question is, why?

Barajas has the same average, more runs, more hits, almost three times as many RBI, not to mention 9 HR to Bakers 0.

I can be persuaded, but I am wondering the logic here…

0
hamandcheeseMember since 2025
16 years ago

Maybe I’m the only one, but I’d rather have Soto than any of the other guys in his group.

0
SF Draft Talk
16 years ago

hamandcheese,
Take a look at his past powet performances. I believe he has hit 20 or more homers just once and it was in Texas. The .550+ SLG is not sustainable. Barajas will bat in the .230-.245 range and will post a sub .300 OBP. So in other words he is going to kill your average and not score any runs. If he is a last resort, sure, by all means pick him up. But don’t let this hot start fool you.

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SF Draft Talk
16 years ago

sorry that was meant for Ben.

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JayCee
16 years ago

John Buck after Jake Fox? Dear God, man- I’m an Astros fan so I’ve known about Buck forever, and understand the disdain shown him. But this is supposed to be an objective site, and you simply can’t ignore the fact he is raking like a monster now. As you know, while OPS is a fine metric, most fantasy leagues are based on categories, and HRs are a category. A HR and a strikeout are probably as valuable as two doubles.

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Zach SandersMember since 2020
16 years ago
Reply to  JayCee

22.9 % HR/FB rate.

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JayCee
16 years ago
Reply to  Zach Sanders

Ranking Buck behind Miguel Olivo and are-you-kidding-me Jeff Clement, a scrub who might end up being outrighted?

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OzzieGuillen
16 years ago

I think Kurt Suzuki is a great buy low opportunity right now. The guy should be in the Happy to Have category, if healthy.

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mr met
16 years ago

If you had a choice between Santana and Posey for a keeper, which would you pick?

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Zach SandersMember since 2020
16 years ago
Reply to  mr met

I’m not a prospect expert, but I think it’d be Santana.

0