Top 20 Catchers for 2025 Fantasy Baseball

After we went over the top 10 for 2025 fantasy baseball and the top 20 for 2025 fantasy baseball in our (my) 2025 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 2025 fantasy baseball. Am I selling you on the top 20 catchers being exciting? No? Good, don’t want to give you the wrong impression. Here’s Steamer’s 2025 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Hitters and 2025 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Pitchers. The projections noted in this post are my own, and I mention where tiers start and stop. Subscriptions are up and running, and you can already get Rudy’s Draft War Room. Anyway, here’s the top 20 catchers for 2025 fantasy baseball:

NOTE: All my 2025 fantasy baseball rankings are currently available on Patreon for the price of a Starbucks coffee, if you get one of those extra grande frappuccino jobbers. Don’t wait for the rankings to come out over the next month, and get them all now.

NOTE II: Watch us discuss the catcher rankings in audio and video style:

1. William Contreras – This tier goes from here until Smith. I call this tier, “Fruit of the poisonous tree.” As I’ve said in past years, and will now say again, catchers are tainted as a position, so this tier is fruit of the poisonous tree. It is tainted because they are catchers. That’s according to Marcia Clark’s How Attorneys May Motion or Express References or as it’s known in the law community, MC HAMMER. In MC HAMMER, it clearly explains how if you grab a catcher after I tell you, ‘U Can’t Touch This,’ you will receive nothing but scorn and smack on the wrist as I slide-dance my feet over to you in very baggy pants.

Position scarcity doesn’t exist. It was made up by someone who had a clever name for something, and shoved their strategy into it. It’s a classic case of the tail wagging the dog. Two dozen years ago, someone who thought they were much smarter than they were said, “If I draft a top catcher, and everyone else has a weak catcher, I will do well. I will call this position scarcity. Wow, I am so clever I deserve a cupcake with ‘Clever’ written in frosting.” Then Mr. Clever perpetuated position scarcity for decades, and others heard about and thought it was too clever to ignore. Like it’s some kind of get out of jail free card. Speaking of which, “position scarcity” is similar to, “A cop has to tell you they are a cop.” According to movies, maybe, but cops don’t have to tell you shizz. Any hoo! At no point did anyone stop in the last 25 years and think, when people made this position scarcity strategy up, it was Mike Piazza hitting 40 homers and .360. Some catchers were great when they were plugging their butts with syringes filled with The Juice.

I would hope if the guy, who came up with position scarcity, were to see the top catchers now he would’ve never mentioned position scarcity. William Contreras, a strong bet for a 20-homer, 7-steal, .280 season, is the same projections as — God help me for saying this name — Bo Bichette. Ryan Jeffers hit 21 homers last year, Contreras hit 23. Granted, Contreras had much better runs, RBIs and average, but you’re drafting Contreras on average around 30th overall and Jeffers around 300th, because of batting average and counting stats that can be made up with a real hitter who’s being drafted by Contreras in drafts with way more power? Like, say, Matt Olson. Last year’s 2nd best catcher was Cal Raleigh, just as everyone assumed last March, because he was drafted around, what, pick 250? Also, he’s being drafted around 120th this year, because. Dot dot dot. No one knows.

As for Contreras, for the 2nd year in a row, he was the top catcher on the Player Rater. First year, maybe a fluke. Back-to-back years? You’re eating that fluke dipped in lemon butter! You feel me? Okay, could you stop? The touching is weird. It’s nice to see William Contreras as the top catcher off the board too. Maybe I’m putting some motivation on it that’s not there, but it feels like they’re drafting him as the 1st catcher through gritted teeth. They so badly want to overdraft Adley, but, alas, they’re overdrafting Contreras instead. Oh, they absolutely are. He played in 155 games last year. Did Pat Murphy make a one dollar bet with Randolph and Mortimer Duke that he could ruin Contreras’s knees? Okay, I kid, only 120 of those 155 games were behind the plate and other games were at DH, but I’m exhausted for him. He led catchers with 595 ABs, which is such a crazy high number. It got me curious so I sorted by seasons since 2000, and it was the 4th most ABs by a catcher with only Sal Perez (2021) in front of him and two seasons by Jason Kendall (a bat you really didn’t want to lose from your lineup, huh). The reason I’m spending so much time on Contreras’s ABs is so much of his fantasy value is driven by runs and RBIs. If you gave him Adley’s runs and RBIs, he would’ve been the 3rd best catcher last year, instead of the 1st. Any hoo! I’m not drafting him either way, but you’re batshizz crazy if you are. 2025 Projections: 86/20/74/.286/7 in 559 ABs

2. Yainer Diaz – I am absolutely not drafting a top catcher still, and will point out when I will be drafting my first catcher, but I do legitimately like Yainer Diaz, and, if I were the type to draft a top catcher, he would be the one. Astros just build guys in a factory who hit the ball hard with great contact. The factory is the shape of a garbage can and, if you knock on the door twice, it means you’re about to throw a curve. 2025 Projections: 76/22/88/.291/2 in 556 ABs

3. Salvador Perez – You know Sal Perez by this point, so let me just say I had a nice chuckle from his runs scored. He scored 58 times last year on 27 homers in 590 ABs (5th most since 2000). He scored 59 runs the year before and 48 runs in 2022. In 2021, he scored 88 runs, but every year since 2011, he scored less than 60 runs in a lot of at-bats. Why is this funny to me? He always hits 3rd or 4th. Not since 2017 did he hit 5th primarily. Imagining clogging up your lineup with a lumbering mass of a human who runs at the speed of Heinz ketchup coming out of the bottle — without tapping the 57, which also could represent his projected runs! 2025 Projections: 56/25/91/.266 in 572 ABs

4. Cal Raleigh – Another name for this tier is HE GOT HOW MANY AT BATS?! It was a good year for catchers getting at-bats. Raleigh caught more games than anyone since 2019. What’s kinda interesting, much like pitchers going deeper, catchers used to catch a lot more games. There were 40 catcher seasons with 135 games or more from 2000 to 2010. Since 2013 (throwing out 2020, and keeping ten years timeframe), there’s been 10. That’s ass! Sorry, that was me starting to talk about Raleigh. In a good way! We should call him The Badongadong, because he hits a lot of homers and has a giant ass. That was clear without the explanation, huh? 2025 Projections: 71/30/87/.234/3 in 527 ABs

5. Adley Rutschman – Feels Can’t Miss while also feeling like Can’t See A Bounceback Without Huge Adjustments. His contact was awful last year (large number of weak fly balls). You can say he’s young and I’m giving him a bye, but make no mistake, to draft him you are giving him a bye. And remember “When you make no mistake, you’re waving bye but not to yourself,” which sounds like 90s song lyrics. The Can’t Miss aspect (is that the Spin Doctors?) is the O’s aren’t going to suddenly stop playing him and their lineup is great. Even when he was dreadful in the 2nd half (.207, 3 HRs in 208 ABs), he was barely moved down in the order (hit 5th). 2025 Projections: 71/21/82/.254/2 in 564 ABs

6. Willson Contreras – Fantasy baseballers (<–my mom’s term!) hear a guy with catcher eligibility isn’t going to catch and it’s like they heard Sydney Sweeney is waiting for them back at home, showering. When in reality it’s more like Willson Contreras is back at your place showering. Cards said he will be a full-time DH and 1st baseman this year, so this is your last chance to overdraft him before you realize he’s a 17/5/.250 hitter even at 1st base. Hilariously (not hilariously), the Cards have way more options at 1B and DH than catcher, and now this guy is blocking them. Smart dot org. 2025 Projections: 68/20/71/.251/6 in 504 ABs

7. Will Smith – It should go without explanation, which is what I say right before I explain something, that all of the catchers in this tier are off limits in one or two catcher leagues, but — again with some stank — BUT! if they fall to the 150th overall range in a two-catcher league or to 200th overall in one-catcher leagues, then I’d be fine with drafting any of them. Will Smith feels like he could have a little bouncey-bouncey if he can get more DH ABs, which seems possible with Ohtani pitching again, and maybe resting a bit more the day after a start (no guarantee), and if Will Smith just hits better than last year, as he did literally every other year of his career. Last year, he lost the strike zone and twenty points in average and still matched his HRs, runs and RBIs. So, he just has to remember how to hit. Easier said than done, Gary Sanchez would like to remind you. 2025 Projections: 73/22/78/.257/2 in 461 ABs

8. Shea Langeliers – This tier goes from here until O’Hoppe. I call this tier, “*manually turning a red light to a green light*” This tier starts your “drafting catcher engine.” Maybe my head-melon has officially started leaking brain custard, but catchers feel deeper than they’ve felt in a long time. They won’t prolly feel this way at the end of the year, but they look deep now. Also, I usually don’t draft catchers until after 200th overall in one-catcher leagues, unless a guy falls, so, it depends on where these guys are going, clearly. I’m not reaching. In two-catcher leagues, you should absolutely grab at least one of the guys in this tier, and I usually draft my 1st catcher in two-catcher leagues around 150th overall, then punt your 2nd catcher, while still getting a catcher who starts. I’ll go over 2nd catchers in a few tiers.

As for Langeliers, which is different than Sia’s Chandeliers, I nearly wrote a sleeper for him, but I don’t write catcher sleepers. Looking at Steamer projections and saw this: Shea Langeliers’s projections 59/24/69/.226/4 in 504 plate appearances vs. Player A projections 71/30/81/.223/4 in 593 plate appearances. The differences there are 12/6/12. That was like one week of Tyler Fitzgerald this past year. Any guesses who Player A is? Don’t hurt your brain, it’s The Badongadong, Cal Raleigh. The Badongadong’s ADP is 95 and Shea is 170. So, there’s the sleeper post I wasn’t gonna write. 2025 Projections: 59/27/71/.236/3 in 444 ABs

9. Connor Wong – Maybe because I had Wong last year — hey now! — but I grew to love Wong — seriously, hey now! I don’t know if it’s because Wong grew on me — okay, you’re trying to get hey now’s now — or if it was some other strange elixir that had me transfixed by the Wong stroke — I’m done with you. Whatever the case, Wong’s a solid middle of the order type who has some power and speed, Wong makes it hard to not see it — I said I’m done! 2025 Projections: 50/12/51/.272/7 in 423 ABs

10. Ryan Jeffers – Rocco Baldelli is a disease (Male Pattern Baldelliness) and it needs to be stopped, Exhibit 3,670,012: Jeffers played in 122 games last year and he didn’t hit anywhere in the lineup more than 18 times. Look at this utter nonsense:

That is so dumb. It’s not like he has significant splits either. Not that any splits could justify this nonsense. This is the epitome of pulling names out of a hat. Anyway, he made pretty bad contact (except when hitting third, apparently), but had a decent year (21 HRs, .226) and hit .276 the previous year and lowered his Ks last year, so maybe he can combine the two years? 2025 Projections: 53/18/58/.242/3 in 409 ABs

11. Logan O’Hoppe – The signing of d’Arnaud, The French Terminator, to be O’Hoppe’s backup is likely nothing to worry about. Guys do have backups, right? [speaking pointedly to my external hard drive] Right?! The problem with d’Arnaud is Ron Washington never met a prospblock to a more promising player that he didn’t like and d’Arnaud is being paid $12 million to just back up? I like O’Hoppe for a 2nd catcher (in fantasy), but his value took a hit when the Angels added their 2nd catcher (in reality). What’s buoying him in my rankings is there’s some vague sense of upside. 2025 Projections: 52/16/56/.239/2 in 408 ABs

12. J.T. Realmuto –  This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until Bart. I call this tier, “Shrug while drafting.” These are your second catchers in a two-catcher league. Just draft one. 2nd catchers are this tier and next tier. This tier is slightly better. Hence, it being in a tier higher! Do you see how this works?! Sorry, I had too much coffee.

As for Jerry Tomato, at the top of the 2nd catcher tier, because he seems ideal for that. Do I really want him? Like want want? No, not at all. Can he play 110 games and get 55 runs and RBIs with maybe a 12/6/.250 season? Sure, yes, great! Who cares. 2025 Projections: 57/12/54/.256/6 in 414 ABs

14. Luis Campusano – I do my own projections. What you see are mine. As I’ve said numerous times before, it would be silly to not look at other projections to doublecheck myself. Campusano is me doublechecking. This is a 100% a Steamer trust fall. Our Steamer projections have him ranked roughly in this general vicinity so I have him here too. UPDATE: Padres signed Elias Diaz, so that killed Campusano. 2025 Projections: 49/15/54/.241 in 377 ABs

13. Austin Wells – Saw his ADP much higher than this and I am so confused. Yankees’ hype seems to affect some guys way more than others. Wells went 13/1/.229 in 354 ABs. Fine for a catcher, but, well, Wells, is, well, I don’t know, fine. He doesn’t hit lefties at all though. 2025 Projections: 56/15/61/.239/1 in 396 ABs

14. Gabriel Moreno – I was drinking a Saltwater-Collected-On-A-Beach-Blanket-flavored La Croix when I saw Moreno’s stats from last year and did a spit take. Maybe it was because of the seltzer’s taste. 39/5/45/.266/3 in 305 ABs? Ohtani can do that in a week. Runs and RBIs included! He does make a lot of contact (14.8 K%), so, I guess there’s that. 2025 Projections: 51/7/54/.286/6 in 401 ABs

15. Ivan Herrera – In 284 career at-bats, he’s hitting .289 with 9.8 BB% and 22.3 K%, and had a .294 xBA last year with 42.1 HardHit% and a 27% line drive rate and went 5/5 last year in a half season. There’s a ton of unknown here, mostly in regards to his playing time. That risk is offset by replacement value vs. a 2nd catcher is basically even, and who are your leaguemates going to have instead for a 2nd catcher? A 15-homer, .240 guy? Whoopie-doo, as Whoopi Goldberg’s hairdresser says. 2025 Projections: 56/10/49/.282/10 in 389 ABs

16. Keibert Ruiz – I don’t do these blurbs in order, so keep that in mind when I say, Keibert looks like Bo Naylor plus thirty points in average, at least. Yeah, the ol’ comp to a player who we haven’t even covered yet is meant to *pinkie to mouth* Keibert on your toes. 2025 Projections: 47/14/53/.262/4 in 411 ABs

17. Tyler Stephenson – Trying not to see his 13 HRs in 2023 and 19 HRs in 2024 and just project him for 16 because it’s directly between the two numbers. Not succeeding, struggling, wrestling with thyself’s inner lazy self and failing. I know, I know! I’m going to add an extra home run on so it seems like I’m not just grabbing the median number 16. UPDATE: Will start the year on the IL with a strained oblique. 2025 Projections: 58/15/63/.251/1 in 401 ABs

18. Joey Bart – Just thought about how the Pirates invested so many resources (1st round draft pick, etc) to develop Endy Rodriguez and Henry Davis, their “catchers” of the future, to stumble onto Joey Bart, who they picked up for nothing and has been better than Endy or Henry or Hendry, if Joe Pesci is reading. 2025 Projections: 46/14/51/.254 in 371 ABs

19. Jonah Heim – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until Murphy. I call this tier, “Shrug while holding nose.” This is it for 2nd catchers in two-catcher leagues. It’s now or never, over-the-internet friend.

As for Heim, his last year looks like a Sean Murphy-type fall-off. There really should be a Law for when the worst things happen. Sean’s Law? Does that work? The reason why Heim is in this tier and below Murphy is because Heim was healthy last year and did poorly. Does that make sense? I don’t know. 2025 Projections: 41/15/51/.228/1 in 377 ABs

20. Bo Naylor – Bo Naylor? Stop the gossip! Okay, full disclosure alert, I had Naylor (after a very romantic evening) ranked about eight spots higher than this, then I ranked him even lower than this. Finally, I landed him here because I lifted the bandana from my eyes and this is where he was copied and pasted. Also, I put him higher when I thought he could go 15/5, but lowered him when I saw he could hit .190. 2025 Projections: 47/15/48/.211/5 in 376 ABs

21. Patrick Bailey – What’s the chances the Pirates trade for Bailey? I just wanna see something. 2025 Projections: 52/11/47/.231/2 in 417 ABs

22. Jacob Stallings – Most teams would be resigned to re-sign Stallings, but the Rockies let a better catcher (Elias Diaz) walk and are willing to block Hunter Goodman with a lesserman. 2025 Projections: 41/9/43/.238 in 334 ABs

23. Francisco Alvarez – He hit .187 in the 2nd half. In not that many at-bats? Is that what you said? He had more ABs in the 2nd half (166) than 1st (142). He played in 50 2nd half games and hit .187 like he was Snoop in Deep Cover. It was mostly one terrible month (August, .171), it just happened to be the month with his most ABs. This ranking has less to do with what he did, and more to do with what he can hopefully do, and a big, late upside gamble at catcher isn’t the worst thing you can do. Also, A Big Late Upside Gamble was the worst Greek Wedding sequel. Alvarez could hit 30 homers, which you can’t say about many catchers. UPDATE: Hand fracture, out 6-8 weeks. 2025 Projections: 42/16/46/.219/2 in 302 ABs

24. Sean Murphy – Last year was a totally lost year for Murphy, but the Braves were also cursed by Vincent Price for taking a Tiki idol off the island of Maui–Wait, that’s the Bradys, not the Braves. Same diff! Murphy is only 30, and had three past years of 17, 18, 21 HRs, and averaged .250 the previous two years, so I don’t hate the bounce back. What’s the chances Murphy has his worst possible outcome two years in a row? They’d have to name a Law after that. UPDATE: Cracked rib and will miss 4-to-6 weeks. That puts his next injury announcement at or around May 1st. 2025 Projections: 39/12/47/.244 in 322 ABs

25. Freddy Fermin – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until Amaya. I call this tier, “Why didn’t you nap earlier in the day?” The tier name refers to you falling asleep in the middle of your draft and getting stuck with one of these guys. And just like that catchers suck. No longer are they interchangeable. They now are Mr. Suckystinkerstein.

As for Fermin, well, he plays if Sal P., Nick P. or Vinnie P. get hurt. It’s Freddy vs. The Three P’s. Royals, you better mind your P’s or I have playing time Q’s! Okay, moving on. 2025 Projections: 29/7/31/.274/2 in 274 ABs

26. Hunter Goodman – To put the tiers in a different context, the previous tier was “Not good, but ABs” and this tier is “Interesting, but no ABs or haven’t lived up to promise with ABs they’ve received so far.” As for Goodman, hopefully he gets at-bats from DH, outfield, 1B and catcher, but who knows, and there’s no guarantee he can hit .200. 2025 Projections: 49/17/56/.203/1 in 366  ABs

27. Miguel Amaya – Wasn’t that long ago people thought Amaya had some real upside with a prospect pedigree. Who are those people and what were they seeing? Or do we need those people to answer for their crimes? 2025 Projections: 37/10/41/.228 in 306 ABs

28. Mitch Garver – This is a new tier. This is the last tier of the catchers. I call this tier, “So, a fly landed on your team’s catcher spot and you thought you filled it when you hadn’t.” As for Garver, I’m not sure anyone’s made more of a one good year — in 2019, no less, when the ball was bouncy — than Garver. Mitch is the LFO of MLB catchers.  2025 Projections: 34/15/41/.188 in 308 ABs

29. Drake Baldwin – UPDATE: Added when Murphy cracked his rib (on a tooth?) and it was announced Baldwin could start the year as the Braves’ catcher. Here’s my negative on him: Murphy is signed through 2028, and it seems unlikely he returns to just become a backup. Positive for Baldwin? Everything else. Baldwin went 16/2/.276 in 468 minor league ABs last year, spending majority of the time at Triple-A. He’s a hit tool, power catcher. It could be glorious if the ABs are there. The Drake is ready. 2025 Projections: 33/9/34/.241/1 in 293 ABs

30. David Fry – As I said this offseason, “(David Fry) will miss the start of the season after elbow surgery. Six to eight months until he can DH, and 12 months until he can play the field, which puts him at a late-April to June return. I’m like a groundhog for Davids.” And that’s me quoting me! One word about him, if you have an IL slot, I could see drafting him up by the 2nd catchers and stashing him in a two-catcher league. They call that a Fry’er. 2025 Projections: 29/10/31/.267/3 in 289 ABs

31. Elias Diaz – Signed with the Padres. So, he killed Luis Campusano’s value, but also. Dot dot dot. Did he help his own? Ranking Elias Diaz, but I don’t know how the Padres’ catching shituation is going to play out. Will they platoon from the same side of the plate? That makes no sense, but maybe the Padres have their reasons and 350 ABs from Diaz or Campusano isn’t good enough for me to spend anymore time on it, i.e., Diaz is Elias and I am A-lazy-ass. 2025 Projections: 33/9/36/.247 in 351 ABs

32. Danny Jansen – Here’s what I said this offseason, “Signed with the Rays. Excited to see what Danny Jansen can do in middle relief.” And that’s me quoting me! 2025 Projections: 43/15/49/.217 in 324 ABs

33. Kyle Higashioka – Here’s what I said this offseason, “Signed with the Rangers. Higgy sure doesn’t make it easy on himself to get fantasy value, as always a backup. As a Burger King employee says when it’s their job to clean up the restrooms, never the number one, always the number two. He’s like a poor man’s Mitch Garver. Call him Ain’t-rich Garver.” And that’s me quoting me! 2025 Projections: 28/15/39/.226/2 in 251 ABs

34. Alejandro Kirk – In reality, Kirk is worth more than this ranking. Are you playing reality baseball? 2025 Projections: 36/6/41/.258 in 359 ABs

35. Travis d’Arnaud – Here’s what I said this offseason, “Signed with the Angels. The Angels have a type. That type is ‘How do we block our better option?'” And that’s me quoting me! 2025 Projections: 36/12/39/.231/1 in 288 ABs

36. Jake Rogers – He’s blocking Dillon Dingler, so Mr. Rogers, you dirty dawg, you’re a prospblock and a Dinglerblock. 2025 Projections: 45/15/49/.202/1 in 324 ABs

37. Pedro Pages – Something I didn’t mention in the Ivan Herrera blurb, though implied it. Implied it very strongly! There’s a chance we get to the end of March and Oli Marmol wakes up with a case of the Dumbs and announces Pages is the starter and Herrera is the backup. 2025 Projections: 27/8/34/.222/2 in 212 ABs

38. Jose Trevino – Here’s what I said this offseason, “Traded to the Reds. He faces lefties and lefties only and–well, what’s a LOOGY called for batters? A BOOGY? So, Trevino’s a BOOGYman? Well, not exactly. What’s a BOOGYman if they can’t hit lefties? How about we call him an OOGA-BOOGA? It’s not an acronym for anything, it’s definition is a scary thing that jumps out at you. Like his platoon splits.” And that’s me copying and pasting me! 2025 Projections: 28/9/31/.221/2 in 223 ABs

Omitted, but considered: Endy Rodriguez, Henry Davis, Adrian Del Castillo, Dalton Rushing, Kyle Teel, Korey Lee, Agustin Ramirez, Victor Caratini, Edgar Quero, Samuel Basallo, Drew Romo, Moises Ballesteros, Gary Sanchez, Carson Kelly, Nick Fortes, Christian Vasquez, Harry Ford, Jeferson Quero, Dillon Dingler, Tom Murphy, James McCann, Sam Huff, Yan Gomes, Ben Rortvedt, Eric Haase, Yasmani Grandal, Rafael Marchan, Kyle McCann, Ethan Salas, Christina Bethancourt, Rene Pinto, Luis Torrens, Reese McGuire, Drew Millas, Liam Hicks