Catcher Overview: When I look at this year's catchers for fantasy one thing jumps out to me. I really want a top five catcher. If you don't get Mauer, Posey, Mccann, Martinez, or Santana there is a huge drop off before you want to draft another catcher. If you happen to miss on the top five catchers you might as well wait until the latter rounds for players like Jarrod Saltalamacchia, John Buck, Chris Ianetta , or Jesus Montero. Here are our Tiers, and our breakout, sleeper, and bust picks for catchers.
Positional Tiers
Tier 1
Joe Mauer
Tier 2
Buster Posey
Brian Mccann
Victor Martinez
Carlos Santana
Tier 3
Miguel Montero
Geovany Soto
Matt Wieters
Mike Napoli
Kurt Suzuki
John Buck
Tier 4
Jarrod Saltalamacchia
Ryan Doumit
Jorge Posada
Russell Martin
Yorvit Torrealba
A.J. Pierzynski
Chris Ianetta
Jesus Montero
Ramon Hernandez
J.P. Arencibia
Tier 5
Carlos Ruiz
John Jaso
Ramon Hernandez
Yadier Molina
Breakout- Carlos Santana
Santana is an absolute masher. Last year in only 150 at bats he hit .260 with 6 home runs and 22 rbis, before an injury cut his season short. The injury may be a blessing in disguise for fantasy owners targeting Santana on draft day. In his first full season in the majors he should improve, making him a top 5 fantasy catcher. Look for about 450 at bats, an .280 average, 20 home runs, and 80 rbis.
Sleeper - Jesus Montero
The Yankees signed Russell Martin as a one year stop gap for the Yankees top prospect, but if Montero impresses in Spring Training, it might be impossible to keep him off the roster. Last year as a 20 year old in Triple A Montero hit .289 with 21 home runs and 34 doubles. Even if his numbers decrease in the big leagues, it is still better than Russell Martin's best case scenario. He could put up weak numbers like Matt Wieters did in his first year, or strong numbers like Buster Posey, but we are leaning towards Buster Posey.
Bust- Russell Martin
The former all star has struggled the past two years with injuries, but some fantasy owners are continuing to think he is a fantasy starter. Martin has moved to the Yankees, which should help his statistics, but his overall risk is too high to draft him as a starter. Most high market players tend to go above their values also, because of their national recognition. Another problem with drafting Martin is he has Jesus Montero behind him waiting if he struggles early. Montero is my number 1 rated prospect in the minors.
If Russell Martin had gone to any team but the Yanks, we'd not be talking about him.
ReplyDeleteMy sleeper is Weiters. I mean, can all those scouts be that wrong?
My breakout is Geovany Soto. Lost weight, and is way better than the backup koyie hill