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 six lady-mans (we gained one this year!). 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 2025 fantasy baseball and how they compared to where I originally ranked them:
1. Cal Raleigh – It came right down to the final weekend to decide which catcher would be the best catcher this year in fantasy. The final weekend of April. Sometime during the final weekend of the season, I decided Cal Raleigh should be the AL MVP (in real baseball). Are Judge’s stats better? Yes. So, give him a Best Stats Award. Congrats on the BSA! Hope you hang your BSA next to your other MVP awards! Why did I land on Cal being the MVP like a fly lands on his big, soft, pillowy butt? Time is fleeting and I became an old-timer with a giant heart the shape of a butt — one of the best Nirvana songs! — and The Ass Man’s narrative is better than Judge’s. First division win for the Mariners in a generation; 60 homers; first non-Yankees player to hit 60 homers in the AL (that’s insane alone) and he was a catcher. Dump! Dump! Dump! Give Dumper the MVP! Though, Judge’s stats were better. As for my projections vs. what happened, Raleigh hit twice as many homers as I projected, and that is so ludicrous. It’s not like I projected him for five and he hit ten. It’s always crazy who excels their previous numbers with an insane year, we should call that The Brady Anderson, and Cal’s insane year might be the Bradiest. As I’ve been saying all year, if you drafted Raleigh, that is the ultimate You Lucked Out. Sure, you might’ve wanted him in drafts, but zero people entered their draft like, “I have to get Cal Raleigh, no matter the cost.” He was merely one catcher amongst about ten of them you would’ve been fine drafting. The Ass Man stands alone. Preseason Rank #4, 2025 Projections: 71/30/87/.234/3 in 527 ABs, Final Numbers: 110/60/125/.247/14 in 596 ABs
2. Hunter Goodman – So, I will say this a lot in my recaps, but the spirit of the law says I was completely wrong on Goodman — preseason rank 26? That’s way off! — but my general sentiment with catchers is draft whomever, or pick up whomever in shallower leagues, and I drafted Goodman in numerous leagues and picked him up the first week in my RCL, dropping Logan O’Hoppe, who O’Hopped off a cliff, not even making this top 20. And that, boys and six girls, is how you can be wrong about a preseason rank and projections but pretend you’re right. Preseason Rank #26, 2025 Projections: 49/17/56/.203/1 in 366 ABs, Final Numbers: 73/31/91/.278/1 in 540 ABs
3. Shea Langeliers – I told you to draft him at 170 overall instead of The Badongadong’s ADP of 100, and spiritually I was right again, and I only cost you about $30 in Player Rater, or the difference between Andrew Benintendi and JRod. Preseason Rank #8, 2025 Projections: 59/27/71/.236/3 in 444 ABs, Final Numbers: 73/31/72/.277/7 in 481 ABs
4. William Contreras – He was not that far off from my projections and what happened. Unfortch for him, catchers had got a huge (butt) injection. Catchers were officially better at the top four than 2nd basemen. 2nd basemen were pathetic, though, so don’t take it as a compliment for catchers. Preseason Rank #1, 2025 Projections: 86/20/74/.286/7 in 559 ABs, Final Numbers: 89/17/76/.260/6 in 566 ABs
5. Salvador Perez – His lack of runs should be studied in a lab. Feed a hamster a plate of spaghetti and meatballs, then see how well it runs on its little wheel. Preseason Rank #3, 2025 Projections: 56/25/91/.266 in 572 ABs, Final Numbers: 54/30/100/.236 in 597 ABs
6. Willson Contreras – Wow, nailed his preseason ranking and projection! Show me what I win…[the box from the end of the movie Seven is wheeled in front of me]…what’s in the box?! C’mon! Tell me! Preseason Rank #6, 2025 Projections: 68/20/71/.251/6 in 504 ABs, Final Numbers: 70/20/80/.257/5 in 490 ABs
7. Ben Rice – Don’t feel remorse about not ranking Rice in the preseason. He was pickupable (totally a word!) in most leagues and his role as a catcher was not knowable in the preseason. So, I missed on him, but it was reasonable why I did. Aaron Boone didn’t even know Rice was his catcher, and he’s the Yankees manager! Well, Boone not knowing something is actually not a reason to not know something. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 74/26/65/.255/3 in 467 ABs
8. Agustin Ramirez – I talk above and below about being spiritually right like I’m Whoopi in the movie Ghost and take no responsibility for missing on guys, but I missed on Ramirez. Still remember frequent commenter, Oaktown Steve, drafting Ramirez in one of our NFBC leagues and me being confused as to why. Was not on my radar at all. Mea culpa. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 72/21/67/.231/16 in 537 ABs
9. Ivan Herrera – Talking about Herrera together with Drake Baldwin to say, there was no way of knowing their playing time in the preseason. I had better feelings for Herrera than Baldwin, but not this good. This shows you that if you get around 400 ABs as a catcher, it’s hard to not be a top ten catcher, as long as you’re not completely fall on your face bad. Preseason Rank #15, 2025 Projections: 56/10/49/.282/10 in 389 ABs, Final Numbers: 54/19/66/.284/8 in 388 ABs
10. Drake Baldwin – Pretty much covered him in the Herrera blurb, but I will add specifically about Baldwin, I still don’t know his playing time when Sean Murphy returns next year. Preseason Rank #29, 2025 Projections: 33/9/34/.241/1 in 293 ABs, Final Numbers: 56/19/80/.274 in 405 ABs
11. Will Smith – He actually had a better season than his stats reflect, because he missed time with injuries and only had 362 ABs. This isn’t me justifying my projections and rankings this time. Okay, of course it is! If it’s not clear, there were 11 catchers this year worth rostering. There’s a huge difference between this point and Yainer to the end. Preseason Rank #7, 2025 Projections: 73/22/78/.257/2 in 461 ABs, Final Numbers: 64/17/61/.296/2 in 362 ABs
12. Yainer Diaz – See, unlike not taking blame on some rankings and projections and talking about being spiritually correct, I was spiritually incorrect on Yainer. His statline was basically a Spirit Halloween. I loved Yainer and he did nothing all year, and I kept believing he’d come out of it. I even think he can bounce back next year. Confirmation bias is a dangerous drug. Preseason Rank #2, 2025 Projections: 76/22/88/.291/2 in 556 ABs, Final Numbers: 56/20/70/.256/1 in 542 ABs
13. Alejandro Kirk – Cal Raleigh hit 30 more homers than his projections, but I’d argue I was closer to what he’d do than Kirk, who I only missed by nine homers. He even stole a base! It was One Free Steal At The Park Day, but still. Preseason Rank #34, 2025 Projections: 36/6/41/.258 in 359 ABs, Final Numbers: 45/15/76/.282/1 in 451 ABs
14. Austin Wells – Here’s a guy who basically nailed his ranking, but I didn’t think he would return his value in any way that he actually did, i.e., I knew where he’d end up, but not how he’d get there, i.e., all’s Wells that ends Wells. Preseason Rank #13, 2025 Projections: 56/15/61/.239/1 in 396 ABs, Final Numbers: 51/21/71/.219/5 in 401 ABs
15. Dillon Dingler – If a catcher had 12+ homers and .250+, they were a top 20 catcher, and that’s why I said the top four catchers were better than the top four 2nd basemen, but I didn’t say catchers were deeper, in general. As for Dingler, well, he had a great fan club. Dillion’s Dingers, dressed as poop emoji, stomping their feet, “One of us! One of us!” Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 54/13/57/.278 in 435 ABs
16. J.T. Realmuto – Frightening how close I came to nailing Realmuto’s preseason projections and even more frightening if you relied on Jerry Tomato for your catcher slot. Preseason Rank #12, 2025 Projections: 57/12/54/.256/6 in 414 ABs, Final Numbers: 57/12/52/.257/8 in 502 ABs
17. Carson Kelly – Pretty sure there were more catchers who came out of nowhere this year to land in the top 20 than had in some time, but also, shrugs, whatever. If you wanted Kelly, you could’ve picked him up in just about any league. Carson Kelly appearing here does show us one thing: Never trust Miguel Amaya. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 48/17/50/.249/2 in 369 ABs
18. Carlos Narvaez – Connor Wong’s walk-up song should’ve been Detachable Penis, because he was gone from the number one catcher spot pretty quickly when he had something like one RBI through his first 100 ABs. Narvaez was fine, whatever, but I do want to say again how awful Connor Wong’s season was: HIDEOUS. Reese McGuire never would’ve been arrested if that was the Wong he was relying on to get excited. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 51/15/50/.241/1 in 403 ABs
19. Ryan Jeffers – In the preseason, I pointed out how stupid it was Baldelli batted Jeffers everywhere in the lineup. How there was no actual strategy to batting a guy around 20 at-bats in nine different spots in the order. And? He did it again this year. Thankfully, Baldelli was fired by the Twins. I’d rejoice but he’ll likely get hired by another team before December. I can see it now, Rocco’s Rockies! Preseason Rank #10, 2025 Projections: 53/18/58/.242/3 in 409 ABs, Final Numbers: 47/9/47/.266/1 in 406 ABs
20. Gabriel Moreno – His end-of-the-season stats are so yawnstipating if you would’ve promised his stats and told me he was a top 20 catcher in March, I still wouldn’t have drafted him. Preseason Rank #14, 2025 Projections: 51/7/54/.286/6 in 401 ABs, Final Numbers: 44/9/40/.285/2 in 277 ABs
You think Yesavage will be overdrafted next season?
YES! Haha man he looks great
Boone arguing before the series on that scouting report about his team is not aging well.
Yesavage is going to have the full might of the hype train.
Haha absolutely
Oh man the pain.
Dynasty 18 teamer.
Past 2 years I had Raleigh, Goodman, Langeliers, Yainer Diaz, Rice, Contreras, and Dingler.
Traded Raleigh for Bubba Chandler and Brandon Lowe last offseason. Oops.
Traded Langeliers for Arraez last season. Oops.
Traded Contreras for Kikuchi in April. Meh?
Traded Goodman+Naylor+Bibee for Abrams at deadline. Oops.
Traded Ben Rice for Santander in April. Oops.
Traded Dingler for a FYPD 3rd rounder. Meh.
Thought Diaz is young with 20-25HR and .300 avg potential, maybe a 30HR year would be fine to hold position down. Only outperformed Dingler on this list. No clue how I managed that.
Oops, ouch and oops…haha, but you can recover from a bad catcher…a bad 1st baseman can doom you…a bad catcher can be helped by a good 1st baseman
True! I was looking at transactions and went man I really ended at the worst option for this year. Luckily dynasty and a lot of that had to do with position eligibility and age. *Hopefully a correction next year*
“I loved Yainer and he did nothing all year, and I kept believing he’d come out of it. I even think he can bounce back next year. Confirmation bias is a dangerous drug”
I see you can read my mind.
Haha, yup! I kinda still believe in Yainer too, unfortunately for me I think
I dont know how a guy can chase everything, not walk, and somehow not K that often and be a .300ish hitter. I feel like some Raleigh selectiveness would do wonders but I am a sucker Yainer.
Yeah, same
I love me some Gus Bus – 20/20 catcher who also hits a lot of doubles. That hitting streak in September makes me optimistic that he will improve on his AWFUL OBP. He had a lot of ground ball bad luck
Agreed! He can be better
Stat average for the top 12 catchers:
498 AB/130 H/70 R/26 HR/79 RBI/5 SB/.260
Last year:
502 AB/129 H/66 R/21 HR/75 RBI/3 SB/.257
Yeah, so much better
Thank you Cal Raleigh! Haha…that seems pretty good vs previous years
Only catcher comment: Guys that move off of catcher, but still have catcher eligibility, are intriguing because of (in theory) in creased playing time but less wear and tear. Worked for Willson this year, but did not work out for Melendez a few years ago.
I wanted to thank you again for all of the advice you gave this year, both in your regular column and answering my questions. I finished 1st in my Roto league and 2nd in my H2H league.
Congrats on the win! And agree on your catcher comment, simply because an increase in ABs
Vinny. Would Schlitter and Crochet’s wild card games rate in the Top 10 this year?
Schlitter would have been at #15, but with 1 ER Crochet would have been around #60.
Brutal call against the Padres last night. A question to ask is if the’d even have a challenge left at the end of the game. MLB needs to rework it so these calls just aren’t missed anymore.
One of the more egregious calls…and in that spot? Can’t happen, so bad
Cal never hits 60 total for the rest of his career
Haha, would be less surprising than another 60 homer season
Like 60 more for his career or 60 in a season again?
In his 4 years as a starter the fewest he has had is 27. He is 28 not 35 so that is a weird call if you saying the former rather than the latter.
I doubt he doesn’t hit 60 for the rest of his career but if you said to me I had to bet he’d hit 60 again in one season or never 60 total? I’d say there’s a better chance he doesn’t hit 60 total with zero chance he hits 60 again in one season…watch he does it in back to back years like he’s prime Bonds lol
I see what you are saying. Before I agree with you, allow me to put $10 down on Raleigh having another 60HR season because that should prevent the jynx. I think that is how it works. Agreed though 60 again is miniscule.
His power jump is interesting as are his splits this year. Previous years typically a larger gap between home/away HR. Obviously everything went up.
Even when his BA slumped this year over a month he maintained the power consistently.
Yeah, what he did was remarkable, and nothing really jumps out as being a mirage, but 60 homers is so hard…judge and Ohtani aren’t strong bets to hit 60 and you can actually see them doing it
Awe, yes, Salvy’s lack of runs scored. I have done some thinking about that since I read your comments on it a couple of weeks ago.
A) He’s really, really slow.
B) Before this year, he wasn’t getting to first base (or beyond) very often.
3) He has had @$$ for run producing bats behind him in the lineup for the past 8 or 9 years.
D) He hit a lot of doubles this year, but again, Quartaro’s frankenstein lineup behind him was mostly really bad this past season.
P.S. George and Salvy = my favorite Royals of all time. Salvy hit 30 HR and 35 doubles at the age of 35. Love him!
Haha, he’s easy to love! Salvy is awesome…For real baseball, he’s awesome…He’s not bad for fantasy either…He is crazy slow, it is true…He needs to two hits to get in from 2nd
Just to add… only switch-hitter to hit 60 home runs
Inconceivable!!
Really is one of the most inconceivable seasons of all time
Please rank for 2026: Beavers, Marsee, Colson Montgomery/
Marsee, Colson
Keepers for next yr- get to keep for the next 2 yrs.
Please pick 3. Thank You!
Pages
Torkelson
Buxton
J.Ryan
Schellenbach
Lose Tork and Schwellenbach
The overall rank on the RAZZBALL PLAYER RATER along with the RCL ADP in 24 drafts March 17 – 26.
03 Cal Raleigh 111
40 Hunter Goodman 284 (3 drafts)
49 Shea Langeliers 197
75 William Contreras 47
89 Salvador Perez 126
93 Willson Contreras 132
96 Ben Rice 272 (5 drafts)
103 Agustin Ramirez ND
113 Ivan Herrera 270 (8 drafts)
117 Drake Baldwin 295 (1 draft)
123 Will Smith 149
145 Yainer Diaz 107
148 Alejandro Kirk 219 (2 drafts)
166 Austin Wells 240 (23 drafts)
187 Dillon Dingler ND
194 J.T. Realmuto 259 (18 drafts)
230 Carson Kelly 292 (6 drafts)
255 Carlos Narvaez ND
294 Ryan Jeffers 281 (2 drafts)
304 Gabriel Moreno 289 (3 drafts)
Also drafted:
576 Adley Rutschman 78
This is awesome! Appreciate it! Surprised O’Hoppe wasn’t there unless I’m missing him
Not you. I guess I missed him. I thought he should be there, but I double checked and couldn’t find him. But, now he reappeared!
390 Logan O’Hoppe – ADP 235 (20 drafts)
Ha, gotcha…Yeah, I drafted him so I figured he was in there somewhere
Schlitter was impressive yesterday — he now enters consideration as one of my keepers.
Please pick four: Eovaldi; Abbott; Schlitter; McLean; Rogers; Preister?
Abbott, Rogers, Eovaldi, Schlittler
Is this a ranking for next year?
Great question, I want to know too.
Yes, but don’t tell anyone, especially not the person who asked first
Can you guys not read? It has Cal Raleigh at the #1 spot and not Alejandro Kirk, so, obviously, this is a 2025 recap and not the rankings for 2026.
Shhh, you’re giving away the goods for free!
Yes, but don’t tell anyone
You are too modest on Agustin, Grey. You helped me to pick him off waivers as you were very quick to recommend him. Thanks for that. Oaktown Steve drafting him in NFBC is just crazy witch-level sh*t.
Haha, fair! Thanks!
I took Agustin in my first (way too early) NFBC DC, which started last August (2024). Took him in Rnd 31. If you did a deep dive there were some things to like. I didn’t do well in that league but Agustin was a bright spot.
Wow, nicely done!