Rankings Update: Catchers
Aloha, America! Another week means another look at the catcher rankings. Just like last week, wOBA numbers are listed as “(Current, ZiPS Updated).”
The Big Three
Joe Mauer (.409, .416)
Brian McCann (.362, .374)
Victor Martinez (.278, .339)
Victor has lowered his strikeout rate, but that has come with a decrease in his walk rate, as well. He still has a .227 BABIP, and with a 22% LD rate, Victor’s batting average will rise sometime soon.
Happy to Have
Matt Wieters (.317, .335)
Geovany Soto (.426, .378)
Russell Martin (.331, .340)
Jorge Posada (.433, .380)
Geo Soto, consider yourself moved up! Last week, commenter “hamandcheese” said that he would “rather have Soto than any of the other guys in his group.” While I didn’t go as far as to move him ahead of Wieters, I did reevaluate his ranking and decided to move him up to number five. Which reminds me to remind you, the reader, to continue challenging these rankings in the comments. For the most part, I do my best to read through them and do some extra thinking about the player(s) in question.
Name That Molina
Bengie Molina (.375, .340)
Yadier Molina (.320, .332)
Ryan Doumit (.339, .340)
Kurt Suzuki (.368, .340)
Suzuki should be back in the next couple of days, but I want to see him come out of the gates and hit before I move him up any higher.
I Am Jack’s Catcher
Ivan Rodriguez (.371, .318)
Miguel Olivo (.392, .338)
Carlos Ruiz (.418, .366)
Olivo snapped out of a small slump, and Pudge is still showing life. Ruiz is slightly hampered by a knee issue, so keep an eye on that over the next week.
Problem Children
A.J. Pierzynski (.241, .300)
Chris Snyder (.340, .352)
Miguel Montero (.498, .360)
Mike Napoli (.392, .338)
It sounds like the White Sox may be open to dealing Pierzynski, and while leaving The Cell may not be the best thing, getting traded to Texas wouldn’t be a bad idea.
The Rest of ‘Em
Jeff Clement (.247, .323)
John Buck (.389, .349)
Chris Iannetta (.244, .334)
Rod Barajas (.361, .327)
Ronny Paulino (.350, .328)
Carlos Santana ( – , .348)
Jake Fox (.261, .317)
I can’t even look at Iannetta’s name without shaking my head, turning towards Denver, and making an obscene gesture.
Authors Note: I know there has been some interest in this, and I’ve never stated a public policy on it, so I figured I’d make it known. Feel free to send me an email with a question about your team, using the email address hyperlinked below this post. Of course, you can also send it to the RotoGraphs Mailbag, if that is more your cup of tea.
Zach is the creator and co-author of RotoGraphs' Roto Riteup series, and RotoGraphs' second-longest tenured writer. You can follow him on twitter.
So why Wieters ahead of Soto? Other than Avg there’s nothing else that ZIPs like Wieters better than Soto in. I’m assuming that the higher ranking is due to the bet that Wieters has the potential to be much better than his projections. If this was a Keeper ranking i don’t think that there would be any argument btwn the two but just going for this year it seems to me that Soto is the better bet, as his projections for HR is = to Wieters at 12, higher BBs, higher RBIs, and a higher OPS of .822 vs. Wieters at .768
I’ll take that under consideration for next week.
Still don’t believe Buck ? Interesting
25/80……. .280 well within reason
I don’t think there is any way that Buck hits .280 with a <15% LD rate
I somehow wound up with both McCann and Soto on my team in a pretty deep league- should I consider selling high on Soto? Both are really useful for me right now, though.
Hey, me too. Drafted Soto, made a waiver claim on McCann. Anyone think I can get a top-flight 1B for Soto+Carlos Pena?
I would move Soto if you’re weak somewhere else. McCann dinged up now, but nothing serious
Paulino could surprise while Baker is out. Wouldn’t be surprised to see him take the majority of at bats.
And hey, that author’s note sounds encouraged by someone. 😉
Too bad your first initial isn’t “-e” for “Ernie” with that last name and this thread 🙂
I think I’m too young to understand.
Why so low for Posada? Does he just not play enough at this stage in his career? Because he’s clearly the best hitting catcher outside of Mauer and Martinez.
Playing time concerns, and normal age concerns (injury, etc)
On the other hand, I’d bet on him getting a lot of DH time in the next few weeks with Nick Johnson back on the shelf and Cervelli doing pretty well. It could help keep him healthy.
What makes Russell Martin a top 10 catcher? the few extra steals he gets? is it the runs he scores because he usually hits in front of manny kemp & ethier?
I agree. Russell Martin is not as good as people think he is.
Then again, who would you move ahead of him? Posada and? Suzuki once healthy? That’s all I could come up with.
Um…
Ryan Hanigan.
I would take Barajas over the Arizona tandem. ZiPS RoS seems pessimistic on him but with no glaring threats to his playing time and his current power output from catcher being tops in the majors, I don’t see why he isn’t more valuable than Miguel “13 PA” Montero.
He’s not going to sustain a HR/FB rate in excess of 13% but he did post 12% over 450PAs in 2005, and he’s clearly benefiting from a switch to the NL, so 25 HRs seems within reach.
Really I’m only defending him because he was autodrafted to me on an extremely deep league in which Barajas and Alex Rios have been my MVPs. That doesn’t mean I’m not using a roster spot waiting for Carlos Santana, but Barajas has been surprising.
Also I don’t think I would ever roster Yadier Molina. He’s too slow to take advantage of his above average contact rates, so his BABIP is always going to seem unsustainably low and appeal to projection systems. His primary value is defense and while a couple season of hollow batting averages seem appealing I would rather not roll those dice.
On the other hand he will put up a shit ton of ab’s, comparatively speaking that makes him valuable.
Iannetta complained to the press about his demotion. Does this ever help matters?
It’s not his fault that he’s smarter than Jim Tracy.
Your deal with John Buck is getting more and more tenuous.
What scoring system do you play where you’d rather own Aj Pierzynski than John Buck? Please state it.
Barajas is ranked way too low. Don’t understand that at all. Are these rankings based on projections or current value? Needs to be moved up a couple of tiers. You can always move him back down once he cools off, but he’s way more valuable than the last tier of catchers.
The rankings are based off projection. Barajas projects to be fairly mediocre going forward despite showing some semblance of usefulness to date. He’s not very good at anything aside from popping the ball every now and then.
I do wish Zach would add a little bit of personal assessment in here. I have to imagine Jeff Clement is really close to losing his job. And I’m just not sure what the Rockies are really planning with Iannetta, so I’d probably move Barajas ahead of those two. Personally, I’d have Santana and Posey ahead of Barajas, I’d rather have a prospect who projects as a top 10 C than Barajas. That’s a simple matter of preference.
Who said I don’t add personal assessment? Believe me, these are not just based off ZiPS, or CHONE, or any other projection system. I take the time to look at every player and make an evaluation every week.
But, you are right in saying these rankings are based on projection. It’s not what they’ve done, but a ranking of who I’d want going forward.
I guess Miguel Olivo needs a .400 wOBA to be taken seriously… With the guarantee of playing time, and a nice FB% with good power (I know the HR/FB% is high, but his historically has been), I think 20+ HRs on the season is a LOCK, and could approach 25-30 HRs. Those #s from a catcher = money in the bank.
What about John Jaso?
I’ll put this in here.
Yesterday, in the 8th inning of a tie game, AJ Hinch had Chris Snyder bunt a runner to 2B so Dan Haren could try to drive him in. I’m not making this up.