Archive for a.j. pierzynski

As we get ready to head into a new month, it’s time to update the 2011 Catchers Rankings once again.  Remember, the criteria for these rankings is as follows:

The arrows are used to highlight a player moving up or down in tier, but you’ll also notice some minor tweaks within the tiers as well.  Some that will obviously have more impact than others. Read the rest of this entry »

With the calendar flipping to May, it’s time to re-visit the 2011 Catcher Rankings and see who has climbed closer to the top and who’s been dropping like a stone.  As you may recall, the RotoGraph writers got together before the season began and constructed a composite catcher rankings.  However, after gaining some feedback from all of you, I have decided to make my adjustments to the rankings based on the following criteria:

The arrows are used to highlight a player moving up or down in tier, but you’ll also notice some minor tweaks within the tiers as well.  Some that will obviously have more impact than others.  So without further ado, you may now cue the theme song to The Jeffersons… Read the rest of this entry »

The 2011 baseball season is almost upon us, so we here at RotoGraphs put our collective heads together to come up with some aggregate positional rankings.  I’ll be taking the lead all year with the catchers, but as a group, here’s what we came up with for now:

Despite last year’s power decline, we know the potential is there so Mauer gets the nod for the top spot.  Welcome to the big time, Buster!

Happy to have any one of these guys on my roster.  Santana is on the rise, but this could be the last chance for Wieters in the fantasy trust department.

Stable group of guys who can just tow the line for your backstop position.  Martin could be a nice sleeper in hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium.

No major investment needs to be made here.  Some will rise, some will fall.  Arencibia’s power potential puts him at the top of the sleeper list.

Maybe a pair of diamonds in the rough in Lucroy and Snyder, but I wouldn’t want to invest more than a buck on the rest of the lot.

You’ve got to be pretty desperate to be living with these guys on your roster.

We’ll all be chiming in throughout the week with more detailed thoughts on some of the backstops and the overall rankings will be updated on a monthly basis, so stay tuned for more!

A holiday edition of “Catchers,” coming to you in three…two…one.

Ryan Hanigan | Reds | 2% Owned
Hanigan is a favorite of mine, and like Chris Iannetta, he just needs to receive added playing time to be a viable option. Hanigan walks more than strikes out, hits line drives and can hit the ball out of the park enough to make him a fantastic catcher. If I can go off script for a moment and discuss real life baseball (gasp!), there is no way Hanigan should be riding the bench. The Reds are splitting starts behind the dish right down the middle (pun intended), so Hanigan is a nice guy to have if you have room for a second catcher, or are willing to take reduced production and lowered risk.

Yadier Molina | Cardinals | 60% Owned
The BABIP Gods shined favorably on Molina during August, allowing him to produce a monster .329 average at the dish. While there’s no reason to believe he can do it again, Molina was going to get some good luck eventually. However, outside of July, his line drive rates haven’t been anything special, leading to a sub-par season at the dish. He’s capable of hitting .275 in September, which is just high enough for a roster spot. During the last month of my season, I’d rather have a catcher with more upside than Molina. I usually hype players up, but Yadier should not be owned in 50% of leagues, let alone 60%.

A.J. Pierzynski | White Sox | 29% Owned
Guess who hit less than 13% line drives with a .346 BABIP in August? Pierzynski, that’s who! Besides cutting down on the strikeouts and the occasional dinger, Pierzynski hasn’t been productive at the plate this year. He’s not going to be sought after during free agency, but someone will take a chance on him this offseason. There’s no use owning him at this point, so don’t pay him any mind.

Catcher A.J. Pierzynski will enter his free agent walk year in 2010 as one of the Top 10 catchers in fantasy baseball. The soon-to-be 33-year-old backstop had a solid offensive season in ’09 by hitting .300/.331/.425 in 504 at-bats. One of the nice things about Pierzynski is his reliability, which is something you do not often get from catchers in fantasy baseball. He’s appeared in 130+ games in seven of the last eight seasons and he’s hit at least 11 homers in each season during that time frame, save for 2002 when he managed just six. He also made contact 8% more often than the league average last season.

On the negative side of Pierzynski, he does not drive in many runs with fewer than 70 RBIs in each of the past five seasons, bottoming out at just 49 in ’09. As well, he won’t help you if your league rewards players for walks (24 in ’09) or on-base percentage (He’s been below .320 in two of the past three seasons).

The biggest threat to Pierzynski is not injury; it is Tyler Flowers. The youngster is one of the club’s top prospects and he just happens to be a catcher. Like Pierzynski, Flowers is an offensive-minded catcher, who hit .286/.364/.438 in 105 triple-A at-bats before receiving a cup of coffee in the Majors with 16 big-league at-bats. Earlier in the season, Flowers hit .302/.445/.548 in 248 at-bats. His 18.7% walk rate and .246 ISO were encouraging numbers and neither was out of line with what he’s produced in the past. Flowers, who was obtained from Atlanta in the Javier Vazquez deal, needs to trim his strikeout rates (30.6% in double-A) if he’s going to hit for average in the Majors.

Is probably safe to assume Pierzynski will be gone from Chicago in 2011, if he wants a guaranteed full-time job. Flowers is one of those prospects that you make room for… surely even Kenny Williams can realize that. For 2010, Pierzynski should continue to gain plenty of playing time with Cole Armstrong as the only other catcher currently on the 40-man roster. Flowers should see significant time behind the dish in triple-A unless Pierzynski is injured or the White Sox tank and the veteran is flipped at the trading deadline.

It’s an interesting situation in Chicago because Pierzynski should remain a solid fantasy player in 2010, while Flowers is one of best fantasy catching prospects in the game. If you have a keeper league squad, snap him up for 2011. If you’re looking for a solid, reliable offensive catcher for 2010 in regular leagues, and don’t want to waste a premium pick on a catcher, consider Pierzynski.