Top 20 Catchers for 2026 Fantasy Baseball, A Recap

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. 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 2026 fantasy baseball and how they compared to where I originally ranked them:

1. Ben Rice – So, I have some wins along the way with the catchers, but Arroz con Homers ain’t one of them. I didn’t believe Rice-a-HRoni at all coming into the season. My preseason rank of eight for him is failing to tell the full story (which I’m attempting to do now). I thought it was lip service that he’d face lefties and, more importantly, hit them. He struck out more vs. lefties and walked less vs. those that require different scissors, but the results weren’t bad and he didn’t even need Judge protecting him. Rice hit the ball hard, took advantage of Yankee Stadium and Rice was even a great hitter, if you used him as a 1st baseman. Call him, Don Basmati-ngly. Preseason Rank #8, 2026 Projections: 69/22/74/.242/2 in 454 ABs, Final Numbers: 105/41/97/.264/3 in 573 ABs

2. Hunter Goodman – Wonder if the failure of Nolan Jones and Brenton Doyle played into my lukewarmness on Goodman, because I was not in on him either. Like I said in Rice’s blurb. I have a few wins, but these first two were not it. Saw the possibility of Goodman’s average coming down and his strikeouts ballooning is not making me feel great about him, but he was basically what you were hoping was Cal Raleigh’s worst case scenario. The Ass’s Assiest. It was not, as we found out. Preseason Rank #10, 2026 Projections: 70/24/77/.248/1 in 481 AB, Final Numbers: 84/41/88/.245/5 in 518 ABs

3. Drake Baldwin – Sucked he had a pretty significant injury in the middle of this season (missed a month with an oblique strain) and then seemed to struggle upon return, because, even with all that, he still had a great season. He feels like the Smart Drafter’s number one catcher off the board for years to come (Rice lost eligibility), unless of course Baldwin talks with Acuña, Albies, Harris II and Austin Riley and hears how he can take entire years off. Preseason Rank #6, 2026 Projections: 69/24/85/.277/1 in 511 ABs, Final Numbers: 85/25/79/.284/3 in 549 ABs

4. Gabriel Moreno – Just to see if I could do it, before looking at the Player Rater, I listed five names for where I thought they ended up as the top catchers. I was correct for four of five (doublechecked off the Player Rater). Gabriel got me. (I put Dingler here.) Moreno is exactly the type of guy will either repeat and be great value next year or fall back roughly 10% of his value and be painful to roster. Preseason Rank #22, 2026 Projections: 48/10/52/.281/2 in 403 ABs, Final Numbers: 72/16/83/.311/6 in 473 ABs

5. William Contreras – The most interesting thing I can think of with Younger Contreras is how he basically does the same thing every year, but some years there’s catchers who are just better than him. He’s like Matthew McConaughey in Dazed & Confused only he’s saying, “I stay the same fantasy value, but they get better.” Preseason Rank #4, 2026 Projections: 93/20/87/.271/5 in 554 ABs, Final Numbers: 82/18/94/.270/1 in 566 ABs

6. Dillon Dingler – [dressed in my poop emoji costume, waiting for my fellow Dingler Danglers, the very famous Dillon Dingler fan club] Being honest with you, it was better than I ever expected for our beloved Dingler, while also it seemed like the Dingler Danglers were, pardon the expression, going to pot in the 2nd half. I slept in this costume all year to root on my man, and now I’m going to remove it until next year. Will be happy to no longer hear people say, “Just because you’re dressed as a poop emoji, it doesn’t mean you need to smell like that.” Preseason Rank #16, 2026 Projections: 51/15/56/.251 in 421 ABs, Final Numbers: 72/27/91/.243 in 551 ABs

7. Carter Jensen – He was the 5th rookie catcher all-time with 25 homers and 75 RBIs, and first since Mike Piazza in 1993. Can you name the other three? I guessed Bench, Berra, and Fisk and I was 1000% wrong. I was also 1000% wrong on Jensen in the preseason. I saw Salvy Perez as a bigger hurdle to at-bats than he ended up being, and Jansen’s 28.3 K% in Triple-A worried me. He did strike out a decent amount this year, but the power was real and he had the benefit of being in a meh lineup. The cream of the crap rising to the top of the order in his favor. Preseason Rank #36, 2026 Projections: 37/10/33/.268/5 in 276 ABs, Final Numbers: 80/27/81/.239/2 in 527 ABs

8. Ivan Herrera – As I said towards the end of the year, “Bit of a step back this year in HardHit%, but everything else looks remarkably similar to his previous year, i.e., Herrera’s not quite in His-era.” And that’s me quoting me! The one solid thing about catchers, in general, is a ton of them are middle of the order bats. Really the only guys who snuck into the top 15 catchers who are not is Kelly and Keibert. Preseason Rank #3, 2026 Projections: 77/24/83/.281/10 in 486 ABs, Final Numbers: 98/19/69/.241/8 in 605 ABs

9. Liam Hicks – Few thoughts here, A) If he had 20 more runs, he’d be worth about the same as William Contreras. B) Even after he hit as many homers as he did, he still looks like an eight to ten homer hitter. C) There’s no C. D) He does look like a .280 hitter. E) He kinda looks like Luis Arraez with a little less average. F) It, I’m done here. Preseason Rank #39, 2026 Projections: 31/5/27/.261/3 in 207 ABs, Final Numbers: 66/18/82/.284/3 in 479 ABs

10. Shea Langeliers – Taking a win here because I loved him and he was headed for a great season before he was injured. As I think every last person will have learned by the time the A’s are ready to move to Vegas, you cannot go wrong betting on Bing Bong to produce great fantasy value for their hitters. (Great news for dynasty leagues; Vegas is gonna be good too.) Also, Langeliers is the end of the decent catchers. After this is a mess. Preseason Rank #2, 2026 Projections: 78/33/84/.257/5 in 503 ABs, Final Numbers: 58/23/58/.262/3 in 424 ABs

11. Salvador Perez – Maybe because my superpower is empathy — yeah, they call me Big Empathy — but I can’t watch Sal Perez without wincing. Trying to make this about this year, but he’s signed for one more year, and 2027 might produce one of the worst seasons anyone’s ever seen from a catcher with Perez, because the Royals are janky enough to actually give him at-bats. Big Empathy (me) may not be able to watch. Preseason Rank #12, 2026 Projections: 52/28/87/.231 in 587 ABs, Final Numbers: 50/21/78/.229/1 in 580 ABs

12. Carson Kelly – As mentioned in Langeliers’s blurb, this is part of the mess. That’s right, in 12-team, one-catcher leagues, there weren’t twelve catchers worth rostering. Look at Kelly’s projections — where I thought he’d be the 30th best catcher — and his end-of-the-year stats. Bit better on everything, but not that dramatically to go from the 30th best to the 12th best. The top ten catchers are actually good right now, but the rest of these guys are various levels of meh. Preseason Rank #30, 2026 Projections: 41/15/46/.239/1 in 361 ABs, Final Numbers: 57/10/58/.258 in 380 ABs

13. Ryan Jeffers – Okay, right after saying what I did in Kelly’s blurb, Jeffers was not in fact bad. He was injured. He’s more like Langeliers. If Jeffers had reached 120 games played, he would’ve blown away my projections and this ranking spot, i.e., when Jeffers’s on, he’s movin’ on up and got me Weezy. Preseason Rank #27, 2026 Projections: 41/13/44/.257/1 in 347 ABs, Final Numbers: 49/14/56/.256/1 in 317 ABs

14. Cal Raleigh – Last year every catcher was behind him as the behind was like a moon during an eclipse. This year every catcher behind him is just ass. There were some legit catchers up top, but these guys down here are terrible. Even though I ranked Cal 1st, I’m taking him as my biggest win from the preseason catching ranks because, unless you were purposely trying to be daft, if you followed my rankings, you never drafted Cal. I said repeatedly do not draft him and said he was the biggest overrated guy, and only didn’t write a schmohawk post for him because I thought he was too obvious to avoid. His previous season was almost as big an outlier as his ass. Almost. Preseason Rank #1, 2026 Projections: 84/42/103/.234/6 in 538 ABs, Final Numbers: 49/23/69/.182/2 in 451 ABs

15. Keibert Ruiz – He’s like a poor man’s Moreno. Call him Making-Tap-Water-Drinkable-With-A-Brita Moreno. Preseason Rank #29, 2026 Projections: 37/11/42/.234/1 in 391 ABs, Final Numbers: 44/10/48/.280/2 in 332 ABs

16. Adley Rutschman – He was too far gone in the Orioles’ bleh. There was no rescuing him with a trade. Feel bad about Orioles prospects. They didn’t ask to be developed in the exact way that makes them bleh. They did not ask for the bleh! Hey, is Orioles’ developmental coach, Dracula? Preseason Rank #15, 2026 Projections: 54/14/59/.243/1 in 441 ABs, Final Numbers: 44/13/60/.242 in 364 ABs

17. Yainer Diaz – There’s a lot of catchers who ended up in the top 20 who don’t feel like they had a top 20 season, but maybe none more so than Yainer. He had a top 20 catcher season? I think Tatis had a better month of September than Yainer’s end-of-the-year stats. Preseason Rank #9, 2026 Projections: 62/22/70/.264/2 in 531 ABs, Final Numbers: 38/14/45/.285 in 344 ABs

18. Tyler Stephenson – I’ve mentioned this in years past, but the bottom of the top 20 catchers is also like this: Guy who played and got runs and RBIs? Yup, he’ll make it. To give you an idea of guys who didn’t make it, Dalton Rushing (played for only three months); Gary Sanchez (part-timer); both Mets’ catchers (part-time, injury, and just Mets), etc., etc., etc. Preseason Rank #23, 2026 Projections: 51/15/62/.240/1 in 409 ABs, Final Numbers: 41/15/54/.241 in 411 ABs

19. Samuel Basallo – Orioles’ minor-league coach, Dracula, got him already. He’s been bit. Sorry. Preseason Rank #11, 2026 Projections: 51/26/62/.241/1 in 413 ABs, Final Numbers: 40/18/54/.222 in 360 ABs

20. Joe Mack – J.T. Realmuto just missed at 21. Almost exactly nailed everything about Jerry Tomato in the preseason, so I’m a bit of an expert on Realmuto. Therefore, I can confidently say his final year of his contract in 2028 is going to be even worse than Sal Perez’s 2027. We’re talking about a five-homer, .175 season in 60 games and pelted by at least five batteries. As for Mack, I was almost entirely interested in Mack in the preseason because of Agustin Ramirez the previous year, and that was my original sin for liking Agustin this year too. My Agut-sin Gloop. Preseason Rank #40, 2026 Projections: 24/10/28/.231/6 in 226 ABs, Final Numbers: 40/14/52/.234 in 303 ABs