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Please see our player page for Salvador Perez 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.

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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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 2023 fantasy baseball and how they compared to where I originally ranked them:

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Willson Contreras (1-for-3 and his 20th homer) giving the winning run to Adam Wainwright (7 IP, 0 ER, 6 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 7.40) for his 200th win is severely throwing off the Comatose Cardinals Fan. “Okay, I’ve been doing a snooze button for what? Ten days? Weeks? Months? Wow, that’s wild. I feel great! Good to see Adam Wainwright pitching, too bad he allowed that homer to Contreras. Those pesky Cubs, amiright? I’m not right? Hmm, I might need to sit down. Wait a minute, I am sitting? In a jar of formaldehyde?” Maybe because I’m old enough to remember the days of 300 wins by a starter (not in one year, I’m not that old), but 200 wins feels significant. Not sure we ever see another one. Gerrit Cole is the closet (not officially, but Johnny Cueto’s not winning ten more, let alone 57 more), and Cole’s five years away, at least, which assumes health. I used to laugh that deGrom was one of the best pitchers of his generation and he won’t crack 100 wins, but a lot of pitchers won’t. Wainwright is a throwback to a bygone era. An era when pitchers started the game in the 1st inning, and went as long as they could. Sometimes, that meant all the way to 200 wins. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

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Angels are Charlie Brown and the every other team is Lucy pulling away the football. Another Peanuts analogy: Every Angels fan is standing at Lucy, under her sign for Psychiatric Help for five cents stating the Doctor is in, and the Angels fan is telling her how they’ve had arguably two of the best two players ever, and can’t win games. One guy, so good, he’s absurdly a top five hitter and a top ten pitcher, and still nothing. Yesterday, the Angels met reality once again, as a team that was seemingly rebuilding just last year is marching towards the AL West title, and every move they do seems to work. They went out and got a future Hall of Famer, who looked past his sell-by date in Max Scherzer (7 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, 1 walk, 11 Ks, ERA at 3.67) and he’s rejuvenated looking like vintage Max again. Mean’s while, the Angels threw, Patrick Sandoval and he went 2 2/3 IP, 4 ER, ERA at 4.09, as he ran up to try to kick the football. Anyone got a nickel he can borrow? Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

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Yesterday, Cristopher Sanchez went 7 IP, 2 ER, 4 hits, zero walks, 8 Ks, ERA at 2.98, which is fine and dandy, but spelling it Cristopher is so Euro trash. Like you just stepped out of a Mazerati and you tossed me your keys, and I’m not valet, but simply a person selling balloon animals. With that said, Cristopher is carrying on the long, 3-month tradition of terrible pitchers being great and great pitchers being terrible. This is truly hilarious: His walk rate in the minors? 5.3 BB/9. El oh you gotta be kidding me el. In the majors, 1.3 BB/9. What, and I will pause now for emphasis, is going on? How can that be? It’s ludicrous. It’s Ludacris with What’s Your Fantasy, and Why Is He Not Getting Hit? Do MLB hitters just not know to hold for a walk? Could it be that simple? He’s barely a 8 K/9 pitcher, so if the walks are bad, everything about him is bad, but. Dot dot dot. Here we are. Streamonator hates his next start, and I have no confidence, but I would try him for his next start, because up is clearly down and vice versa. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

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Between the Rays benching Wander France for some immaturity and his recent performance, there are some concerning signs with Mr. Ray.  One of the most challenging parts of rankings is balancing the potential that we want to realize and the reality of a player’s performance.  Wander has been benched in Kevin Cash’s world and unfortunately while he is actually playing he has been almost less valuable.  Over the last two weeks, Wander has been top five in infield flies, while hitting nearly 60% ground balls.  At least he has been running wild with the steals while he has been scuffling at the plate.  Wander might be one of the most talented hitters in the league, but translating that talent to results is just as important.  He is still a great piece for the rest of the season, but he may be holding himself back.  Let’s jump into the top 100 hitters for the rest of the fantasy baseball season to see who else is shaking up our ranks.

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In the biz, we call this an “In Appreciation Of” post. This is in appreciation of Tildaddy. The one and only: Ronald Acuña Jr. (4-for-8, 3 runs, 4 RBIs and a double slam (14, 15) and legs (29), hitting .333). Tildaddy says you are done with your chores! Scientists should get together Ronald Acuña Sr., Fernando Tatis Sr., Bobby Witt Sr., Michael Harris I and other former players, who have elite MLB sons, and let them study them. Like the movie, Concussion, but call it Cushion Pushin’. Tildaddy is running away with the top spot on the Player Rater, and–Well, one of his home runs yesterday went 461 feet and it looked like he was barely swinging. Put that together with a guy who might have 45 steals by the All-Star Break, and we’re looking at a possible 40/70 season. I just nearly fainted. I need to sit down. Sits in a hole labeled “People who faded Acuña in the preseason.” Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

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Royals called up insanely fast speedster,  Dairon Blanco (1-for-4). He’s so fast he just ran in your room, mussed your hair and ran back out without you even seeing him. His name translates to “Strike while the iron is white hot.” Roughly. I’m not a linguist. Dairon has 47 steals in 49 games in Triple-A, which is absolutely hilarious. Oh, and he’s 30 years old. Okay, so the Royals have one of those teleporters like in The Fly, and Rajai Davis was in it when a cheetah entered. They got zapped together and out walked Dairon. Idea Alert! Every MLB team should be required to have an 80-steal burner. Like they all have LOOGYs, they should all have Billy Hamilton clones. This isn’t an idea, this is a must-have. If your fantasy team’s steals are anemic, Dairon is your answer. Otherwise, I’d prolly wait to see the next guy to come out of the cheetah teleporter. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

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First off, we have to wish our five female readers a very Happy Mother’s Day. I started a petition for next year’s Mother’s Day, where MLB puts a nipple on each base, and, when runner steps on it, it lactates. I think after I petitioned MLB last year to have hairy bean bags on the end of bats for Father’s Day, they’ve muted me somehow, so if you could boost this, I’d appreciate it. One guy who’s obviously a momma’s boy is Mitch Keller (7 IP, 0 ER, 4 hits, zero walks, 13 Ks, ERA at 2.38, 70 strikes out of 93 pitches). This comes after a 4-hit shoutout, which comes after four years of near-5 ERA pitching, which comes after being a highly touted prospect, which comes after emerging from his mother’s womb, because yesterday was all about moms! His peripherals are all saying everything Mitch Keller is doing is really happening vs. some kinda mirage that will evaporate when his luck runs out. The most incredible part of Mitch Keller’s star mitzvah is that he’s doing this prior to his trade to the Yankees for Albert Abreu and cash considerations. Oh, you know it’s coming, Keller high water. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:

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