Rankings Update: Catchers
You comment, and I listen. Seriously, your input is very important. I’m only one person with one vantage point, and challenging my rankings makes me revisit them and rethink my evaluations. We’re going to continue on without including any stats, so without further ado…
The Big Three
Victor Martinez
Joe Mauer
Brian McCann
Victor holds on to the number one spot, and that shouldn’t change (barring injury). McCann continues to try remedies for his vision, so we may see his batting eye improve sometime soon.
Happy To Have
Jorge Posada
Mike Napoli
Kurt Suzuki
Miguel Olivo
Want power without completely killing your batting average? You’re going to have to pay for it. Olivo will always have to look over his shoulder, but I think the Rockies will give him the benefit of the doubt and stick with him as long as they possibly can.
The Prospects
Carlos Santana
Buster Posey
I am loving Santana going forward. While our sample is small, he is showing signs of being worth all of the hype. And more. Posey may not show much power right away, but he should develop more as his career progresses.
I am Jack’s Catcher
Ryan Doumit
Miguel Montero
Geovany Soto
Matt Wieters
John Jaso
I think Sweet Lou just likes to screw with fantasy owners. Jaso seems to be the real deal, while Montero and Doumit could be higher if I trusted them to stay healthy.
Buckaroos
Russell Martin
John Buck
Ivan Rodriguez
Rod Barajas
Carlos Ruiz
Ronny Paulino
Nick Hundley
Martin drops way down, as does Ruiz. Pudge is back and started hitting right away, and he is fitting in nicely with the Nationals. Hundley continues to impress me, and his added playing time has been nice.
The Rest of ‘Em
Bengie Molina
Yadier Molina
Chris Iannetta
Jason Kendall
I’ll always love Iannetta, and am looking forward to someone taking him off the Rockies hands in the offseason (if not the trade deadline).
Zach is the creator and co-author of RotoGraphs' Roto Riteup series, and RotoGraphs' second-longest tenured writer. You can follow him on twitter.
Very torn on what to do with Soto, Santana has yet to be picked up in my non-keeper league. If they were in similar situations I think I would rather take Soto, but it seems like lou has some strange obsession with Koyie “the other automatic out” Hill. Considering trying to trade him but don’t want to get pennies on the dollar should lou finally see the light.
If Santana is available, drop Soto right now and grab him. John Jaso is another catcher I wouldn’t mind having over Soto if he’s available as well (I grabbed him in my league and let go of Russell Martin).
P.S. I predict that the next time fangraphs does the catcher rankings, Jaso will have moved up to the happy to have you catagory. I sure am happy to have him right now.
Might be. Since he had a late start, we’re just starting to see a significant sample, so if he can keep it up he’ll probably move up.
These are right about where I would rank them.
If anything, Jaso could be added to The Prospects as it’s also his rookie season. He just hasn’t had the fanfare of Santana and Posey. He’s been hitting all over the Rays lineup (including 1st!) and in OBP leagues he’s a top-10 option for sure.
I dropped Wieters for Santana on Saturday (12 team, 1 catcher league) which was a particularly tough pill for me to swallow since in that league I overdrafted for Wieters and then touted the pick claiming it will end up as the biggest steal of the draft… OOPS!
I have Jason Castro ranked right around Carlos Ruiz. Thoughts?
In a keeper league and been offered Santana for Dunn. Would solve a long term catcher problem, but I’m still nervous. Our categories include BB’s, and I’m impressed with Santana’s early totals. Will that be a trend or is it part of the “hot start?”
Posey….not this year. The big splash appears over.
Keeper leagues only. He’ll get dramatically better and develop power. But not in ’10
Why so little love for John Buck? For a Catcher, he’s putting up some nice numbers… .271, 24R, 12 HR, 38 RBI. Definitely better numbers than many of the guys listed in “I am Jack’s Catcher” category.
If I thought he’d hit .270, hell, even .260 going forward I’d be more of a believer. I’ll take it under consideration though, and run some numbers on his batting average.
I have two teams that are both keeper leagues. I had Montero sitting on the DL and then picked up Santana in both leagues to replace catchers that weren’t producing much. Now, I’m torn between the two. I really don’t want a roster spot being taken up by an extra catcher, but I can’t decide who to get rid of. Since we can keep 15 or more players in both leagues, there is a good chance that I will be keeping one of them in each league. What do I do……help!