Top-50 Catcher Ranks

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

I haven’t included catchers in the normal rankings since each league has a different total being rostered from 10 to down to the 48th one (12-team, two-catcher AL or NL-only leagues). I think the talent drops off around my 25th ranking. This finding leads to two takes. Unless I’m in a 15-team, tw0-catcher or deeper league, I’m not going to prioritize catchers. There are acceptable options for shallow formats. In the deeper leagues, I will set a line and try to roster my two catchers from the top-25.

Notes:

  • The rankings start with a weighted average of several available projections. From there, I moved hitters up or down based on my perceived playing time (PA) or talent (Talent)
  • I had to pick one format to rank off of and I went with 5×5 Roto.
  • I didn’t give any player a multi-position boost or DH hit with each hosting site having its own settings.
  • Replacement level is not included since that value will change based on each league’s settings.

Top-50 Catcher Rankings
NAME PA AVG Rank Points (ESPN) OBP Rank Playing Time Talent
J.T. Realmuto 525 1 3 2 Down
Salvador Perez 530 2 6 8
MJ Melendez 610 3 7 4 Up
Will Smith 475 4 1 1 Down
Adley Rutschman 530 5 4 5
Daulton Varsho 450 6 5 3 Down
Alejandro Kirk 500 7 2 6 Down
Sean Murphy 550 8 9 9
Willson Contreras 500 9 12 7
William Contreras 470 10 13 11
Danny Jansen 460 11 10 10
Cal Raleigh 490 12 11 12
Keibert Ruiz 470 13 8 14
Tyler Stephenson 480 14 14 13
Shea Langeliers 440 15 17 15
Travis d’Arnaud 400 16 16 16
Mike Zunino 360 17 27 18
Logan O’Hoppe 300 18 24 20 Up
Jonah Heim 410 19 15 22
Gary Sanchez 410 20 23 19
Eric Haase 350 21 25 23
Christian Vázquez 410 22 18 26
Francisco Álvarez 300 23 34 28 Up
Nick Fortes 300 24 38 36 Up Up
Connor Wong 300 25 57 54 Up
Christian Bethancourt 베탄코트 330 26 29 30
Mitch Garver 330 27 28 21
Austin Nola 370 28 19 25
Carson Kelly 370 29 20 24
Joey Bart 380 30 39 27
Elias Díaz 360 31 22 29
Yasmani Grandal 350 32 21 17
Jose Trevino 350 33 26 33
Martín Maldonado 380 34 37 32
Yan Gomes 280 35 32 38
Endy Rodriguez 200 36 49 49 Up
Bo Naylor 220 37 40 31
Omar Narvaez 320 38 31 34
Tom Murphy 250 39 44 35
Francisco Mejía 280 40 35 45
Reese McGuire 300 41 33 41 Down
Jorge Alfaro 240 42 55 44
Manny Pina 250 43 36 39
Luis Campusano 200 44 43 50
Gabriel Moreno 150 45 50 48 Up
Ryan Jeffers 240 46 47 43
Max Stassi 280 47 51 42
Victor Caratini 250 48 41 40
Jacob Stallings 300 49 30 37 Down

Notes

• J.T. Realmuto: The projections had the 32-year-old catcher with over 560 PA so I brought that total down. He still ranks as the #1 guy.

• MJ Melendez: The projections had him playing fewer games than he did in 2022. I don’t think he’ll play every day but I did give him a 10-game (40 PA) bump.

• Will Smith: When I updated my projections, one projection system didn’t take into account the J.D. Martinez signing, so a small drop.

• Dalton Varsho: Several items have me low on Varsho. First, the last time Varsho started at catcher was June 9th, so I don’t expect him to be the catcher beyond a game or two next season. The second issue was that he was getting platooned at the season’s end.  Of the 18 lefty starters the team faced, he sat for 10 of them after because of a .615 career OPS against lefties (.781 OPS vs RHP). Finally, the Diamondbacks have five outfielders projected for similar production.

They are separated by nine points of wOBA. If one, who could be Varsho, struggles to start the season, he could be demoted to the minors or the bench.

• Alejandro Kirk: I just don’t believe in the mid-500 PA projections.

• Logan O’Hoppe: I know O’Hoppe doesn’t have a ton of experience, but when Max Stassi struggles (career .656 OPS), O’Hoppe should see more playing time.

• Francisco Alvarez: I bumped him up to half-time at-bats and I could see that number increase even more if McCann is traded.

• Nick Fortes and Jacob Stallings: I moved them to 50/50 on the playing time. They were effectively there over the second half of the season (Fortes 160 PA, Stallings 158 PA).  Also, I bumped up Fortes’s talent because he’s one of the few catchers who can steal a base (5 in 240 PA).

• Connor Wong and Reese McGuire: In September, Wong had 47 PA (proj .738 OPS) while McGuire had 56 PA (proj .660 OPS). I just put them at an even number of plate appearances.

• Endy Rodriguez: The Pirate prospect only has 23 PA in AAA, but is likely the team’s best-hitting catcher. I just put him at 50/50 with Austin Hedges.

• Gabriel Moreno: Right now, the Jays catchers are splitting playing time, and eventually, one will be traded. Moreno’s playing time will jump once the trade occurs.

Previous ranking articles with notes:





Jeff, one of the authors of the fantasy baseball guide,The Process, writes for RotoGraphs, The Hardball Times, Rotowire, Baseball America, and BaseballHQ. He has been nominated for two SABR Analytics Research Award for Contemporary Analysis and won it in 2013 in tandem with Bill Petti. He has won four FSWA Awards including on for his Mining the News series. He's won Tout Wars three times, LABR twice, and got his first NFBC Main Event win in 2021. Follow him on Twitter @jeffwzimmerman.

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viceroymember
1 year ago

Great stuff as always. Moreno or Keibert in a dynasty points format?

beastermember
1 year ago
Reply to  viceroy

Moreno all day