Updated Consensus Ranks: Catcher

There’s a little more movement in these rankings.

Maybe it has to do with the fact that these guys are, you know, catchers. For one, their full-season sample size is smaller than that at any other position. If BABIP takes 500+ plate appearances to stabilize, you might get three catchers in a given year that achieve that level of playing time. It’s rough on the knees. Plus, since it’s such a defensively demanding position, catchers aren’t known for their sticks. Somehow that seems relevant here — maybe if the group isn’t known for their offense, as a whole, then a small ripple in their projections can mean that the rankings have to change in a big way.

Up second are the guys that most often touch the ball second on any given play.

In the top ten, the changes are slight. Just a little reshuffling of the top ten, with a new entrant that, well, would probably have been higher up if we’d had our druthers the first time around. Then again, there’s a case to be made that Jesus Montero shouldn’t have been ranked as a catcher — in some leagues he’s not even a catcher yet, already one month into the season.

Then you’ve got your poor performers that are showing poor contact rates. Contact stabilizes a little quicker than most things, so bad strikeout rate early in the season could be bad sign. Congratulations to A.J. Pierzynski, then, for making so much contact. That makes him the biggest (positive) mover in the rankings not playing in Seattle.

Let’s not forget A.J. Ellis, who makes his debut at #29. It’d be higher, but his best attribute — patience — doesn’t figure in prominently in most 5×5 leagues. Salvador Perez looks like a better bet for rest-of-season value, and he’s hurt.