After we went over the top 10 for 2023 fantasy baseball and the top 20 for 2023 fantasy baseball in our (my) 2023 fantasy baseball rankings, it’s time for the meat and potatoes rankings. Something to stew about! Hop in the pressure cooker, crank it up to “Intense” and let’s rock with the top 20 catchers for 2023 fantasy baseball. […]
Please, blog, may I have some more?Adley Rutschman
Please see our player page for Adley Rutschman to see projections for today, the next 7 days and rest of season as well as stats and gamelogs designed with the fantasy baseball player in mind.
Well, the World Series is over, the citizens of Houston got to have their parade and now here we are – the offseason.
But don’t fret. If you are a regular Razzball reader, then you know we have been looking at the top keepers for 2023. Over the last two weeks we’ve released the 2023 Top Keepers 2023 – Relievers and 2023 Top Keepers – Starting Pitchers. This week – catchers!
Catchers are almost becoming like the place kickers of fantasy football – everyone needs one, but except for a few top players who can actually sway an outcome, they are all the same.
So here are a few simple rules when it comes to catchers:
Catchers, in general, will only play in about 110 to 120 games except for a few outliers. So don’t expect catchers, as a group, to perform like other position players.
If you think two catchers are equal except for age, go with the younger catcher. Few catchers age well.
Be happy if you have a catcher who is a standout in one scoring category. Rare is the catcher who hits for average and homers, even more rare if they add steals.
There are some catchers who make Rule #1, #2 and #3 completely false. If you have one of them, hold onto them for as long as you can.
In backing up rule No. 3, the career leader in home runs by a catcher (as in hitting a homer while playing catcher in that game) is Mike Piazza with 396. There are only three more players who hit more than 300 – Carlton Fisk (351), Johnny Bench (326) and Yogi Berra (305). That is it. This season, the highest batting average by a catcher with more than 200 at-bats was .285 by Alejandro Kirk of the Blue Jays – .285!
So for the below rankings, if you see a player like Martin Maldonado, you are going to wonder why he is even ranked. Dude slashed only .186/.248/.352. But he did hit 15 homers and drove in 45 runs.
You know how many other catchers hit more than 15 homers? Twelve. Do you know how many other catchers drove in more than 45 runs? Fourteen. When looking at a catcher like Maldanado for just his power and run production, he is actually close to being a starter in deep fantasy leagues.
Moral of the story – catchers are their own breed and should be viewed differently.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Please don’t ask if this is a ranking for next year. It’s not a ranking for next year. It’s me recapping last season. Please, for the love that all is holy, understand this. It’s all I ask of you. Well, that and shower me with praise. The latter isn’t hard, the former is. Also, remembering which is the ‘latter’ and which is the ‘former’ is hard too. Quibbles and semantics, my good man and five lady-mans. It wouldn’t be fair for me to preseason rank the players, then rank them again in the postseason based on my opinion, so these postseason top 20 lists are ranked according to our Fantasy Baseball Player Rater. It’s cold hard math, y’all! Anyway, here’s the top 20 catchers for 2022 fantasy baseball and how they compared to where I originally ranked them:
Please, blog, may I have some more?Well. This is it. You’ve been thinking And I’ve been drinking We both know that it’s just so right Now you’re pretending That it’s not ending (The season) You’ll say anything to avoid a fight Grey don’t lie, and tell me that you need me Grey don’t cry, and tell me nothing’s wrong I’ll […]
Please, blog, may I have some more?The plan for today’s article is pretty complex in its simplicity. I set out to build a championship-level redraft team for 2023 using only rookies from 2022.
C: Adley Rutschman
C: MJ Melendez
1B: Jose Miranda
2B: Vaughn Grissom
3B: Bobby Witt Jr.
SS: Oneil Cruz
MI: Jeremy Peña
CI: Gunnar Henderson
This infield is good. Might not win us the league, but getting steals all around the diamond puts us on a winning path. Not just because speed is increasingly rare but because these steals come from middle-order hitters with power.
Catcher is a pretty clear win. I suppose the Sal Perez team has a leg-up on you if they’ve got anyone in the C2 spot, but aside from that, we’ve got a top-of-the-scale catching duo.
Please, blog, may I have some more?This is my last DFS article of the year, and for those of you who ever took my advice and wagered actual money, this day couldn’t have come sooner for you. However, I’ve had a blast. I figure that this is a process-driven thing we do, and YCPB (You Can’t Predict Baseball). Ultimately, it’s called […]
Please, blog, may I have some more?Usually start writing these posts after the game has concluded, but for the Orioles game yesterday, I started working on the Anthony Santander lede about five hours before the game ended. The game was like: Run, run, five runs, seven runs, eleven runs, then fifteen pitcher changes. Has the game ended? I don’t know, and, at this point, it’s no longer my concern. Anthony Santander (3-for-5, 3 runs, 3 RBIs and his 32nd and 33rd homer) is my concern. He now has four homers in the last two games; six homers in four games; 33 homers in 153 games–Wait, that becomes less impressive again. Santander becomes the 2nd player in MLB history to homer from both sides of the plate in the same game four times in a season, joining Ken Caminiti, who did it during his MVP year. Six homers in a four-game span hasn’t been done since the hottest schmotato of all-time, Luke Scott. During Luke Scott’s run, he actually went on Fallon with a schmotato that resembled him. Crazy times. Lucky the season’s gonna end soon or Anthony Santander would pass Judge in…*does quick math*…twelve days. For 2023 fantasy, I bet Santander is still underrated even though he has a 18.6% strikeout rate (excellent for a power hitter), 14.5% HR/FB (not at all obscene), and expected stats that back up just about everything he’s doing. Is he Anthony Santander or Anonymity Santander? Damn, Guy Fawkes, don’t be so Anonymous. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?Grey and B_Don discuss what they would do if they caught the Pujols or Judge homerun ball. Surprise, surprise, we’re not giving it back for nothing. As we close out the season, we discuss some more of the 2nd half performers and where we might be looking to take them in 2023 drafts. We discuss […]
Please, blog, may I have some more?What’s up fam, I’m filling in for Mr. Pants this week, and what a weekend to do it… Albert Pujols became just the fourth person ever to hit 700 HR at the big league level. Truly a remarkable feat. What’s even more remarkable is that he nearly died on the vine outside of the walls […]
Please, blog, may I have some more?We’re towards the end of our marathon, friends. One or two weeks separate us from fantasy glory depending on your league settings. If you’re in a head-to-head league, you’re likely looking at the 7 & 30-day Player Rater. Middle infielders Willy Adames, Gleyber Torres, Marcus Semien, and Gunnar Henderson have been among the hottest bats […]
Please, blog, may I have some more?With two weeks left in the regular season, the playoff picture starts to come into view, with a few races undecided. The Yankees’ Aaron Judge and Cardinals’ Albert Pujols are chasing their own pieces of history. The season has set up for an exciting finish, and then our first glimpse at the new playoff format. […]
Please, blog, may I have some more?Houston Astros outfielder slash heir to the throne of the Southlands, destroyer of baseballs, Yordan Alvarez went for the hat trick Friday night going 4-for-4 (s/o Wendys!) with three home runs (34, 35, 36) including this 464 footer! That’s the longest shot of Yordy’s career and the three bombs in a single game is a […]
Please, blog, may I have some more?