2013 Fantasy Catcher Rankings

Buster Posey looks to build on his wildly successful 2012 campaign. Credit to Getty Images.

The catcher position is the most physically demanding position (outside of pitching) that a baseball player can play. A day off for a catcher can sometimes consist of playing first base or DH. With year round inter-league play, I expect catchers to play a bit more regularly as a DH on occasion, but for the most part, catchers don’t play much more than 130 games. Last season a total of 10 primary catchers were eligible for the batting title. Furthermore, Buster Posey led the league in games played from a catcher, but only 111 of his 148 starts came at catcher. The other games consisted of playing at first base. Joe Mauer has long appeared at both catcher and first base for the Minnesota Twins and Carlos Santana is following in Mauer’s footsteps in Cleveland.

In single catcher leagues it makes sense to wait on, or possibly even punt-and-stream catchers. When it comes to two catcher leagues, I recommend waiting even more. After the top tier of catchers are gone, the negatives that a catcher brings will outweigh the positives. Is J.P. Arencibia’s 18 home runs really worth his .233 batting average? As much as I love 20 home run upside, there is a point of diminishing returns to think about. I have always advocated waiting on pitchers and catchers. Grab your power bats from positions where a player has a chance to play in 150 games. Your top draft picks and big budget players should be players who have a chance to maximize your pick. Taking a catcher early just doesn’t allow that due to the nature of the position. As always, this is for re-draft leagues and assumes a standard 5×5 mixed league rotisserie format. You can catch our previous rankings for first base, second base, shortstop, third base, and both part one and part two for the outfield as well.

10 Comments on "2013 Fantasy Catcher Rankings"

1. 

   Todd Boss February 6, 2013 at 1:43 pm -

   Jonathan Lucroy??  Had him last year as a waiver wire pickup and he was more than servicable.

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     David Wiers February 6, 2013 at 2:27 pm -

     Lucroy posted a .338 BABIP for the season last year, .381 in the first half. I don’t know when you picked him up, but to expect that again seems a bit naive.

     That said, I shouldn’t have left him off. Editing.

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       oh Hal February 15, 2013 at 8:55 am -

       To rate him 25th is beyond naive. What a tossup – Ianneta or Lucroy… there are just too many names on the list that heh likely will outperform. 

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         David Wiers February 15, 2013 at 2:05 pm -

         Lucroy’s most optimistic projection is by — unsurprisingly — Bill James. It reads as .287, 14 home runs, 58 runs, and 70 RBIs. 

         What part of that do you see as too low? 

2. 

   Todd Boss February 6, 2013 at 1:44 pm -

   Also, most Nats fans (as I am) will tell you that Suzuki is the starter until Ramos proves he’s healthy.  I don’t think either is that great a fantasy option, but I was surprised to see you have Ramos 7 spots higher at this point in the season.

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     David Wiers February 6, 2013 at 2:34 pm -

     Last I heard it was going to be a battle in ST. Assuing Ramos’ knee is fine, and I haven’t heard any differently, then he *should* be the primary starter.

3. 

   Dave February 15, 2013 at 1:33 pm -

   Russell Martin – NYY????  Pretty sure he’s with the Pirates now and the Yanks are going with a horror show at catcher

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     David Wiers February 15, 2013 at 2:02 pm -

     Whoa, that one slipped by the ol editors eye, aka mine. Apologies!