Catchers – you can’t live with them, and in fantasy baseball, we can’t live without them.

This is a position that is not deep and not that talented after the top tier of backstops. You may get a catcher who has power but kills your average and on-base percentage. Or you may get a catcher who hits well and gets on base, but has no power at all.

There are very few perfect catchers in baseball, and the few that are close are going to be tough to get or trade for due to the scarcity of those players. But you almost feel compelled to try to go after them or hang onto them a year or two too long because for every Adley Rutschmans, there are two Martin Maldonados who just kill your team.

I came up with forty catchers to rank, but that is mostly to help fantasy owners who play in 20-team (or more) leagues or the leagues that require two catchers. If you are in a 12- to 16-team league, the Tier 4 and perhaps Tier 3 players will likely mean nothing to you.

Anyway, let’s get to the 2024 Top Keepers – Catchers.

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See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Mon 8/4
ARI | ATL | BAL | BOS | CHC | CIN | CLE | COL | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIA | MIL | MIN | NYM | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL | TB | TEX | TOR | ATH | CHW | DET | OAK | SEA | WSH

Format = Position Player | Age on 4/1/2024 | Highest Level Played | Estimated Time of Arrival 

1. RHP Andrew Painter | 20 | AA | 2025

Underwent Tommy John surgery in late July, so 2024 is mostly washed out. Can’t really put a clock on the value of elite pitching, so if he comes back at full strength, we’ll chart this blip up as a positive in the sense that it buys him a little safety window on the ticking time bomb that is a high-velocity elbow.

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Here’s the good thing about not having a top prospect for 2024 fantasy baseball in the traditional sense: There’s instead ten guys who could be the top prospect and this class could be better than any of the previous few. Jackson Chourio could be Ronald Acuña Jr. or not be up until September, and be lined up to be the top prospect for next year. Jackson Chourio was bursting from the seams in Double-A this year with 22/43/.280 line and an 18.4% strikeout rate. That’s wacko, Jacko. They are absolutely not making hitters like they used to make them. They used to be in the Create A Player Factory and make a guy like Pedro Alvarez, and be like, “He hit 24 homers and .210, that’s a success.” And you’d be like, “Are you sure?” And they’d be like, “He won Player of the Week once, how much do you want?” Now the players are like, “I wonder if he can go 25/50 his first season and hit 60 homers and steal 90 bags by year three.” Yeah, things are nuts in the world of baseball prospects. Exciting times. No, I didn’t say Jackson Chourio could be Acuña as a goof. Of course, not in 2024, or, dramatic pause, can he? Or rather: So, what can we expect from Jackson Chourio for 2024 fantasy baseball?

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So far in my 2024 fantasy baseball rookie outlook posts, two Rangers players Oreo’d Jackson Holliday. Is this ideal for their outlooks? Here’s a better question for you, what is ideal? Does it matter where the rookies come from? Adley and Gunnar in the Orioles’ lineup this past year meant what for them? Good things for real and fantasy baseball. Don’t try to find narratives where there are none. Just because the Rangers have two rookies don’t put on it, “Well, they both can’t be good.” That’s wrong. They can and, with that lineup around them, they have a good chance of being good. Here’s another way to look at it: Prefer two rookies in a stacked Rangers’ lineup or one rookie in the not-so-good Nats’ lineup? Trick question! A rookie in the Nats’ lineup can be good too. Don’t get wrapped up in non-stories. Am I currently arguing with a strawman? Yeah, maybe. Remember the other day, when I said people I asked were split about who the top prospect would be in 2024 fantasy baseball? Our one-time fantasy baseball prospect guy, Geoff, who now works at Baseball America, voted for Wyatt Langford. Yes, I made sure, double-checked honestly, because I know some of you might be wondering, “Isn’t Wyatt Langford the kid from Ozark with the cougar problem?” He’s not, from what I can tell. So, what can we expect from Wyatt Langford for 2024 fantasy baseball?

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1. SS Jett Williams | 19 | AA | 2024

Williams was fantastic for 36 games in High-A, slashing .299/.451/.567 with seven home runs, 12 steals, 32 strikeouts and 33 walks. He’d earned a midseason promotion by posting a .422 on base percentage in Low-A while improving throughout the season. If he hits in Double-A to open the year, the 5’6” 175 lb spark plug will be a top ten prospect in baseball by May. 

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As I said the other day in my Evan Carter 2024 fantasy outlook thingie-ma-whosies, there wasn’t a consensus for who would be the top rookie in 2024 fantasy redraft leagues. There was a consensus about who would be the top rookie if they started the year with the club in April. You guessed it: Jackson Holliday. Itch gave me a list of the top redraft 2024 fantasy rookies for me to discuss — ooh, homework! — and he said that Jackson Holliday would start the year with the Orioles in April or July. So, that’s Jackson Holliday’s caveat up front. We have no idea when he will be up with the Orioles. If past is prologue, and I am using ‘past is prologue’ correctly, we only have to look at how the Orioles promoted Adley Rutschman two years ago. Adley reached Triple-A in 2021 for 43 games, then they pretended he needed Triple-A in 2022, until he was called up. Last year, Jackson Holliday reached Triple-A, spent 18 games there, doesn’t need to be there, but the Orioles are going to pretend that he has to spend another six weeks there and call him up on May 21st, thereabouts. The game plan has been revealed by my mind. Sorry, for those of you who think Jackson Holliday will start the year in the majors. He won’t. The Orioles just had the best record in the AL without him, so it’s not like they need him. They need someone like Merrill Kelly more than they need him, tee be aitch. For full disclosure, if I thought Jackson Holliday would start the year with the Orioles, he’d be the top rookie. Of course, if the Orioles surprise me in the spring, and Holliday does break camp, he will fly up draft boards like Jordan Walker last year. The Walker bump! So, what can we expect from Jackson Holliday for 2024 fantasy baseball?

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In our sixteenth episode, Mike Couillard and Jeremy Brewer open by discussing the culmination of the championship series, making our Tacofractor picks, and diving into the new Topps Costco packs. Then we overview the release of 2023 Topps Tier One (34:53). Finally, we discuss our “Picks to Click” for the World Series and preview players […]

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1. RHP Max Meyer | 25 | MLB | 2022

Meyer’s an interesting sleeper pick for redraft leagues heading into 2024. The third overall pick in 2020, Meyer’s arrival in 2022 was cut short by Tommy John surgery. If he can come back with his dynamite slider and plus changeup, he might make an improbable run at rookie of the year. Feels like the kind of guy who’ll be an afterthought at the draft table until he pops up in the preseason and sends people scrambling to move him up their boards.

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There’s no top rookie for 2024 fantasy baseball, if I’m reading the tea leaves correctly, and, let’s hope I did, because I’ve already drank the tea so I can’t re-read them. Asked a few people their general take on who the top rookie would be in redraft leagues for 2024 fantasy baseball, and I got a bunch of names. A bunch of names that I will go over in the upcoming weeks. That’s right! Welcome to our 2024 fantasy baseball rookie outlook series where I will cover all the 2024 rookies who will be worthwhile for 2024 fantasy baseball redraft leagues. I am not the dynasty guy. That is Itch. I am not the keeper guy, that’s Jakkers. I’m just your redraft guy. The top rookie for 2024 fantasy baseball is only important, because that’s how I usually kick off this series. Starting ten or so years ago with Mike Trout, I would start with the top rookie each year. If you want to make money in Vegas, I’d bet the field or a long shot this year, because there’s no clearcut guy. I asked a bunch of people who this year’s Corbin Carroll would be and the one name that returned the most votes (two of ten) was Evan Carter. Well, technically, the odds-on favorite was Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but I won’t go over him until he signs somewhere. This is the most divided that people have been on who the top rookie will be for an upcoming year. Last year, there were two possible top prospects with Carroll and Gunnar, and this year there’s, like, a ten-way tie for the top rookie. There is a chance in the spring we see a Jordan Walker-like bump that we saw last year when he started hitting so well in Spring Training, and someone else will emerge, traveling up the draft boards, but there doesn’t seem like there will be a top 75 rookie drafted this year in redraft leagues as of right now, like Gunnar or Corbin last year (barring, again, Yamamoto). This leaves us, brings us really, to Evan Carter, our top rookie because he received 20% of the vote for top rookie! Evan Carter spent time in the three-hole in the stacked Rangers’ lineup in the lineup, so we know what they think of him. So, what can we expect from Evan Carter for 2024 fantasy baseball?

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We’ve gone over the final 2023 fantasy baseball rankings for hitters and the top 20 starters. This is different than Final Fantasy rankings where you rank Final Fantasy 1 thru Final Fantasy 15. That’s hardcore nerd shizz! This is simply fantasy baseball — we’re softcore nerds like Emmanuelle is to porn. So, there’s no more of these godforsaken recap posts left. You’re welcome. I, my over-the-internet friend, will be talking next about 2024 rookies. Let’s boogie to the next year, boogiers! Anyway, here’s the top 40 starters for 2023 fantasy baseball and how they compare to where I originally ranked them:

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Format = Position Player | Age on 4/1/2024 | Highest Level Played | Estimated Time of Arrival 

1. RHP Hurston Waldrep | 22 | AAA | 2024

With the name of a 19th century oil barren and the arsenal of a high-end big league pitcher, Hurston Waldrep represented a nice windfall for Atlanta with the 24th overall pick in this summer’s draft. His delivery borders on relievery, but a double-plus fastball/split-change combo helped him carve his way to Triple-A in half a minor league season. Atlanta has been rushing its young arms for a while as they try to supplement their world-beating offense, so Waldrep should be on the shortlist for an early promotion. Might even have a shot to make the team in spring training. He signed for a few hundred thousand under his draft slot value, and you know this team loves that.

Please, blog, may I have some more?