It's alway tough to know how to handle the catcher position in fantasy baseball. It's a position of scarcity for offensive production to begin with. Most catchers are not able to get in the squat for 150 games which limits counting stats prevalent in most fantasy baseball leagues. This was true in 2019 when just 4 catchers accumulated as many as 500 PA's.
JT Realmuto: .275/.328/.493, 25 HR, 92 R, 83 RBI, 9 SB, 593 PA.
Yasmani Grandal: .246/.380/.468, 28 HR, 79 R, 77 RBI, 5 SB, 632 PA.
Christian Vazquez: .276/.320/.477, 23 HR, 66 R, 72 RBI, 4 SB, 521 PA.
Wilson Ramos: .288/.351/.416, 14 HR, 52 R, 73 RBI, SB, 523 PA.
Out of those 4, Realmuto and Grandal are worth investing a relatively high pick on, but once you get past them, it's probably best to just wait until the end of the draft and pick up whoever is still available. It's not that hard to find a catcher who will give you 15-20 HR's down at the end of your draft. I look for someone who will give me that and not ruin BA or OBP depending on what your league settings are. The two best dinger producers were Gary Sanchez who hit 34 for the Yankees and Mitch Garver of the Twins who had a huge breakout with 31 in just 359 PA.
One way to dramatically increase your offensive production from the catcher position if you have the time and patience is to draft two catchers from one team, known as handcuffing. The downside to this strategy is the extra catcher takes up a roster spot which could be used on a pitcher to increase Wins and K's and you have to take the time to check lineups daily so you know which catcher to start that day, a time investment most fantasy baseball players probably don't have.
The top catching pair in MLB last year was the aforementioned Mitch Garver and Jason Castro of the Twins who combined for 44 HR's 109 R and 97 RBI's. Another tandem I was not aware of before I researched this post came from the Mariners where Omar Narvaez and Tom Murphy(remember him?) combined to hit 40 HR's, 95 R and 95 RBI's. Other catching pairs of note include Willson Contreras and Victor Caratini of the Cubs with 35 combined HR's, Kurt Suzuki and Yan
Gomes of the Nationals(29), Carson Kelly and Alex Avila of the D'Backs(27). Buster Posey and Steven Vogt were not a half-bad pair last year with 17 combined HR's with 73 R and 78 RBI.
Another barrier to implementing this strategy from a fantasy baseball standpoint is positional flexibility which may put both players on the field at the same time and dilute their combined output.
*********************************************************************************
Addendum:
I appreciate comments but wish folks would disagree with what I actually write and not some straw man caricature of it:
1. I think I said I generally wait until the end of the draft to take my catcher and can generally find a 15-20 HR guy who doesn't hurt me in BA/OBP.
2. I don't think this is what the commenter was advocating, but I don't recommend leaving the C position open. When most of your categories are counting stats, you have to roster someone with C eligibility. In most formats, you don't get an extra bench player if you leave the C position open.
3. I also made the effort to point out the opportunity cost of rostering 2 catchers including the cost of an extra SP. I also pointed out the strategy won't work at all if you do not have the time to check posted lineups daily so you know which catcher to start.
4. If you can keep up with who's starting on a daily basis, I still think it's worth considering handcuffing if the right situation presents itself. If you can get 40 HR', 95 R and 95 RBI out of the Catcher position by rostering both Narvaez and Murph, I think you have to at least consider it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I have to respectfully disagree with your strategy here on catchers Dr. B and suggest you go in the opposite direction and punt the position. I have won 2 leagues in the last 2 years and finished in 2nd in another without fielding a full time catcher on my roster. The fact is that even the best catchers aren't worth their draft slot as they don't play every day and add minimal value to your offensive stats. Using the roster spot for another offensive player who you can slide in when a regular has a day off or even having an extra SP with the roster spot adds much more value to your team.
ReplyDeleteIn order to draft Realmuto you are probably going to pass on someone else who is either more productive but at a less scarce position offensively (at the end of the day the stats are what matters in the first 6-10 rounds not the position the player plays) or you will be passing up a top level closer or top 20 SP. All roster spots are valuable and by punting the C position you essentially give yourself an extra roster spot to play with which nowadays could mean adding a Bo Bichette, Gavin Lux, or a Keston Huira off waivers. You can use that roster spot on a guy like Mitch Garver like I did the first month of the season until he got hurt but once the player either goes cold or gets injured or gets sent back down you drop him for another flavor of the month and use that spot to rotate in talent no mater what their position. I promise you there will be little missed from not carrying a catcher full time and the flexibility it gives you will help you stream hot players or young players without the fear of losing that position since you never count on it from the beginning.
To counter the loss in offensive production from lack of a catcher which isn't significant in most cases, you should focus on offense in 8 of your first 10 picks. Build up an offense filled with "must start" guys each week and build your pitching staff as the season goes along. Every year I find SP's and RP's that were probably undrafted but end up making a significant impact on my lineup. You can do the same with rookies and the occasional out of nowhere offensive players as well with the added flexibility of not relying on a permanent catcher.