Early 2020 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Catcher
Now that there’s only the Super Bowl left in the NFL it’s about time for fantasy baseball. For many of us, such as myself the season has never been over but the best way to get ahead of your league is to continue your research and preparation. I will be starting off my positional rankings with arguably the worst position in fantasy baseball, catcher. While it may not be as deep of a position, my personal strategy is to wait on the position in one catcher leagues. In those with two catchers, I prefer to get one higher up player, and then grab a second catcher later towards the end of the draft. I can absolutely understand on the other hand reaching a bit early and gaining an advantage with one of the top guys, but to me, there’s enough talent in the later parts of catcher that waiting on them won’t be sacrificing much at other positions. Below you will find my rankings for the catcher position in rotisserie formats. Feel free to discuss these with me on the Fantasy Life App @celslager and on Twitter @celslagerfl.
- JT Realmuto- Philadelphia Phillies
- Gary Sanchez- New York Yankees
- Yasmani Grandal- Chicago White Sox
- Salvador Perez- Kansas City Royals
- Willson Contreras- Chicago Cubs
- Will Smith- Los Angeles Dodgers
- Mitch Garver- Minnesota Twins
- Wilson Ramos- New York Mets
- Carson Kelly- Arizona Diamondbacks
- Tom Murphy- Seattle Mariners
- Christian Vazquez- Boston Red Sox
- Sean Murphy- Oakland Athletics
- Yadier Molina- St. Louis Cardinals
- Roberto Perez- Cleveland Indians
- Jorge Alfaro- Miami Marlins
- Omar Narvaez- Milwaukee Brewers
- Francisco Mejia- San Diego Padres
- Buster Posey- San Francisco Giants
- Travis d’Arnaud- Atlanta Braves
- Robinson Chirinos- Texas Rangers
- Mike Zunino- Tampa Bay Rays
- Kurt Suzuki- Washington Nationals
- Jason Castro- Los Angeles Angels
- Danny Jansen- Toronto Blue Jays
- Austin Romine- Detroit Tigers
- Jacob Stallings- Pittsburgh Pirates
- Chance Cisco- Baltimore Orioles
- Tucker Barnhart- Cincinnati Reds
- Yan Gomes- Washington Nationals
- Reese McGuire- Toronto Blue Jays
- Victor Caratini- Chicago Cubs
- Stephen Vogt- Arizona Diamondbacks
- James McCann- Chicago White Sox
- Wellington Castillo- Free Agent
- Elias Diaz- Colorado Rockies
Sleeper: Tom Murphy. Yes, I know he won’t be much of a producer in batting average. Even though he hit .273 last year, his xba was .218. Each year his hard hit rate has risen up to 44.8% last season, including 19 barrels. With the playing time he should be getting this year with Seattle and those underlying numbers, I am expecting Murphy to put up an under the radar really good season.
Breakout: Carson Kelly. After finally getting strong playing time in Arizona in 2019, I am expecting an even stronger season in 2020. He is another example of a player who’s hard hit rate, exit velocity, and launch angle have rose immensely based off his full playing time. With another full year in Arizona and a team that’s continuing to improve he is a very exciting player this upcoming season.
Bust: Willson Contreras. With the trade rumors surrounding him that is a bit of a concern plus to me his Statcast numbers are a bit worrisome. His exit velocity was in the 36th percentile of the league, and has stayed close to the same each of the past four seasons. His expected batting average also dropped to .250 last year potentially making room for some regression, with a continually rising strikeout rate.
