Playing time is a huge issue in fantasy baseball. Great hitting catchers who play multiple positions or can DH in the AL are way valuable. Also, defense is not a fantasy category unless you are in a very esoteric league.
1. Mike Napoli- He's always been a monster at the plate. Mike Scioscia hated him for some reason. Freed in Texas. May regress a little in BA, but a solid bet to put up huge power numbers again.
2. Carlos Santana- Will play every day in some capacity so will put up big counting stats. BA hurts some, but that should improve.
3. Brian McCann- Playing time is an issue, but he's good enough to still give you big time numbers.
4. Matt Wieters- just a continuation of his normal progression will yield very good numbers, but I think he could break huge.
5. Joe Mauer- Seems a lot healthier this year. Can DH and play some 1B, so should rack up the PA's if he stays healthy. Probably won't crack 20 HR's again in the Twins new ballpark.
6. Miguel Montero- solid numbers are almost a guarantee.
7. Buster Posey- I love Buster Posey as much as anybody, but for fantasy purposes, he has to prove he can stay on the field after that horrific injury.
8. Alex Avila- Had a breakout last year. Can he sustain it?
9. Ryan Doumit- Sleeper alert! Doumit is the reason I might wait on drafting a catcher until late. He's a beast at the plate and he's going to play every day in some capacity with the Twins.
10. Yadier Molina- Great catcher, but defense don't count in fantasy. Solid BA, but not much help otherwise.
11. Jesus Montero- should hit for average and doubles power, but not that park is death to RH power hitters.
12. Wilson Ramos- hit 16 HR's last year and is still very young.
13. Jarrod Saltalamacchia- Also hit 16 HR's last year. A bit of a post hype sleeper?
14. Jonathan Lucroy- I picked him up last year when McCann got hurt. Should have just kept him because McCann was terrible after he came back.
15. Kurt Suzuki- He's bulled up some to try to hit for more power. His past numbers with a few more HR's would be quite interesting.
16. Salvador Perez- He's on enough sleeper lists that he's probably overvalued now.
17. Nick Hundley- Had a strong second half last year, but the park he plays in is a big negative and the Padres acquired Yasmani Grandal for a reason.
18. Wilin Rosario- With Iannetta gone has a clear path to PT and you have to like any hitter in Coors. Very unproven.
19. Devin Mesocoro- Everybody seems to agree he's going to be great. What's not clear is how much PT he'll get from Dusty until Jocketty trades Hanigan.
IMO, Napoli and Santana are in a top tier. They are draftable in the top 20. Catcher is not as thin as it has been in the recent past. In a 10 team league, you can afford to wait, especially if you miss out on Napoli or Santana or don't want them for some reason. In a 12 team league, it gets a bit more dicey and you might want to grab one before the top 6 or 7 go off the board.
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