| | Tuesday, February 4, 2025 | 50 days until Opening Day ... | Last season in this very space, I opened our Catcher Preview newsletter by saying, "I don't want to jinx anything, but ... I genuinely think the catcher position is in better shape than it's been in my 13 seasons writing about Fantasy Baseball." | How did that work out for us? | Well, William Contreras continued his ascent to the elite tier of the position, and Cal Raleigh, Salvador Perez, and Yainer Diaz all finished as top-100 players in Fantasy last season, so that went well. We also had pretty exciting breakouts from young guys like Shea Langeliers and (to a lesser extent) Logan O'Hoppe , which was nice to see. | Of course, we also saw a big step backwards from Adley Rutschman and J.T. Realmuto, both of whom struggled to make the kind of impact expected of them. And, among players we were excited about last season, Gabriel Moreno, Mitch Garver, Bo Naylor, and Jonah Heim, while Willson Contreras and Sean Murphy were held back by injuries. | All in all, catcher was still the weakest position in Fantasy, but it does feel a bit stronger on the whole than it does most years. 2024 saw four catchers finish as top-100 overall players, while nine finished in the top 200; that is twice as many top-100 finishers as each of 2023, 2022, and 2021, but is about the same number of top-200 finishers. | So, yeah, catcher is better than it has been in recent years, at least at the top end. There are probably five or six catchers you might conceivably use at another position if you didn't have to use a catcher, and there might be a few more who could get there with a career-best season. It's still a weak position overall, but certainly better than it used to be. That's a good thing, though it's important to keep in mind that, while things are pretty good at the higher end of the position, you could still find yourself stuck with some pretty unappetizing options in two-catcher leagues especially if you aren't thoughtful about how you approach things. | | We went through everything you need to know about the catcher position in Monday's episode of Fantasy Baseball Today, as we kicked off our position previews. You can head here to watch the full episode, but in the rest of today's newsletter, we're going to be pulling from that, as well as Scott White's Catcher Strategies piece and my Catcher Preview on CBSSports.com to make sure you know what you need to tackle the position. | And, over the next couple of weeks, this newsletter is going to be all about diving deep into each position to make sure you know the player pool in advance of your 2025 Fantasy Baseball drafts. That's going to include recapping some of the offseason's biggest moves, highlighting our rankings for each position (plus Scott's tiers!), and highlighting some sleepers, breakouts, and busts for each position. | We're starting with the less-shallow(-but-still-shallow!) catcher position: | | 2025 Catcher Preview | "You know the catcher renaissance that I was going on about last year? Yeeeeah ... it didn't happen. | True, William Contreras reiterated his elite standing, and Yainer Diaz and Cal Raleigh further established their bona fides. But Logan O'Hoppe, Francisco Alvarez, Gabriel Moreno, Bo Naylor, Luis Campusano, and Henry Davis didn't break through as hoped, with three of them more or less removing themselves from Fantasy consideration. Meanwhile, mainstays like Adley Rutschman, Will Smith and J.T. Realmuto all took a step back, putting their draft standing in a precarious spot. It's not a great situation. | So if the outlook at catcher has reversed from a year ago, when I advised you to wait at the position, am I advising you to pounce now? Not really." | -From Scott White's 'Catcher Strategies' column | | Offseason Recap | Danny Jansen signed a one-year contract with the Rays Gary Sanchez signed a one-year contract with the Orioles Kyle Higashioka signed a one-year contract with the RangersTravis d'Arnaud signed a two-year contract with the Angels Elias Diaz signed a one-year contract with the Padres Kyle Teel traded to the White Sox | I'm gonna be honest, I thought about whether it was even worth including most of these transactions. They are all No. 2 catchers at best for 2025, and it's not exactly necessary for you to know where Kyle Higashioka is playing in 2025. That's especially true for the free agent decisions, so we'll spend a few minutes focusing on the one notable trade of the offseason, as Teel was the biggest piece the White Sox got back for Garrett Crochet . It's not at all clear if Teel is going to open the season on the White Sox roster – I would guess not – which means he's probably going to open the season in a timeshare with Edgar Quero , the team's other top catching prospect, in Triple-A. Both should be up at some point in 2025, and both have the potential to be must-start Fantasy options – I think I prefer Quero's bat a bit more, personally, but Teel's well-rounded skill set could play well as a poor man's Realmuto. There is some concern that they'll take away from each other, but given the inherent attrition at the catcher position, that's a problem that will probably solve itself one way or another. But both are names to watch this spring. | Consensus rankings | For breakdowns of each of the top 12 and more, head here. | William Contreras, Brewers (The Elite Tier)Adley Rutschman, Orioles (The Near-Elite)Salvador Perez, RoyalsYainer Diaz, AstrosCal Raleigh, Mariners Willson Contreras, Cardinals Will Smith, Dodgers J.T. Realmuto, Phillies (The Next-Best Things)Shea Langeliers, Athletics (The Fallback Options) Logan O'Hoppe, Angels Francisco Alvarez, Mets Tyler Stephenson, Reds (The Last Resorts) | To highlight what I was talking about earlier, there are two more players in the top three tiers of Scott's rankings this year than there were last year, but there are three fewer in The Fallback Options tier. The higher end here is stronger than we've seen, but the depth remains an issue. | But it's worth pointing out that the apparent depth last year was speculative. It required betting on breakouts from names like Bo Naylor, Henry Davis, and others to come to fruition, and that didn't happen. Which is the thing to keep in mind about catcher: Until someone has proven they can be an impact player, you can't pin your hopes on it. Catchers bust at higher rates than any other position among prospects except pitchers, and you should probably treat them similarly: Until someone proves they can handle the rigors of the position, you might be better off assuming they can't. | Or at least, you should make sure you have a viable backup plan if you're betting on an unproven player to be a stalwart in your lineup. That's the lesson from last year, as much as anything else. | One Sleeper at Catcher | Ivan Herrera, Cardinals | With the Cardinals moving Willson Contreras to first base full-time for 2025, there's an opportunity for their intriguing young catching tandem of Herrera and Pedro Pages to step up, and that's exciting news for Fantasy. Pages isn't without sleeper appeal of his own – basically, any cheap catcher with conceivable upside has some sleeper appeal – but he's probably more likely to bring value with his glove than his bat. But Herrera brings legitimate upside as a hitter, even beyond his very solid .301/.373/.428 line as a part-timer in 2024. Herrera looks like he might have legitimately above-average power, and not just for a catcher – his .366 expected wOBA in 2024 was well above the league average for all hitters, as was his .160 expected ISO. Pair it with good plate discipline and swing decisions, and you don't have to squint too much to see a legitimate top-five outcome at the position here. | One Breakout at Catcher | Willson Contreras, Cardinals | Contreras is a catcher in name only these days, and that's a big deal. It opens up playing time opportunities for Ivan Herrera, one of my favorite sleepers for 2025, but it also makes Contreras one of the biggest potential difference makers at the catcher position for 2025. I think it would be a mistake to assume that a soon-to-be 33-year-old with a lengthy injury history is suddenly going to become a model of health just because he's no longer crouching down behind home plate for half the game, but at the very least, he'll be at less risk for the kinds of injuries that tend to only happen behind the plate – like when he fractured his forearm last year being hit by a swing. And it opens up at least the possibility of Contreras getting to 150 games, which would give him a huge edge on the rest of the players at this position, minus one or two. And Contreras' 150-game pace since getting to St. Louis looks like this: .263 average, 74 runs, 25 homers, 74 RBI, and seven steals. That feels like the floor if Contreras stays upright. | One Bust at Catcher | Logan O'Hoppe, Angels | Maybe the signing of Travis d'Arnaud doesn't really mean anything. He's a starter-caliber catcher masquerading as a backup, sure, and the Angels jumped the market to sign him, sure, but maybe it won't affect O'Hoppe's playing time - O'Hoppe was eighth among catchers in playing time last season. Or hey, maybe O'Hoppe is so good that even a 10% reduction in playing time wouldn't really impact O'Hoppe's price, which remains top-eight at the position in the month of January. After all, he has legitimate difference-making power for a catcher, as evidenced by all the red on his StatCast page under various batted-ball metrics. But O'Hoppe also has pretty scary plate discipline issues that could limit his upside, even with all that power. I don't think he's a terrible choice as your No. 1 catcher, but I can see too many ways this could go wrong to justify the cost. | | | | | Carabao Cup | | CBS Sports HQ | Arsenal will have to dig themselves out of a 2-0 hole. Do they have it in them? Don't miss Newcastle United vs. Arsenal tomorrow at 3PM ET streaming on Paramount+. Watch Live | | CBS Sports HQ is LIVE from New Orleans with wall-to-wall coverage February 5th-9th, streaming free, 24/7 and keeping you up to date through a Big Sunday in the Big Easy! Watch Free |
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