Fantasy Baseball: The Deep NL Catcher Position

by Ray Guilfoyle on Nov 7, 2008 8:00 AM EST in Baseball

Taking a break from the Scott Boras show over the last 3-4 days, so let's take a look at something more exciting.....NL Catchers. In season past, the average catcher would give a roto/fantasy owner around 10 HRs and 55 RBIs. Not anymore.

In 2008, the NL alone had 7 catchers hit at least 13 HRs and 64 RBIs, with Brian McCann leading the way with 23 HRs and 87 RBIs, while the Giants Bengie Molina drove in 95 runs to go along with his 16 HRs.

Here is a list of the top 10 NL catchers sorted by HRs, because that is all most fantasy owners want from their catchers, right?

Player	AB	R	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
McCann, Brian C ATL	509	68	23	87	0.301	0.374	0.523	0.896
Soto, Geovany C CHC	494	66	23	86	0.285	0.364	0.504	0.868
Iannetta, Chris C COL	333	50	18	65	0.264	0.39	0.505	0.895
Molina, Bengie C SF	530	46	16	95	0.293	0.322	0.445	0.767
Snyder, Chris C ARI	334	47	16	64	0.237	0.348	0.452	0.801
Doumit, Ryan C PIT	431	71	15	69	0.318	0.357	0.501	0.858
Martin, Russell C LA	553	87	13	69	0.28	0.385	0.396	0.781
Schneider, Brian C NYM	335	30	9	38	0.257	0.34	0.367	0.707
Flores, Jesus C WAS	301	23	8	59	0.256	0.296	0.402	0.698
Molina, Yadier C STL	444	37	7	56	0.304	0.349	0.392	0.74

I know in most years roto/fantasy owners would try to spend as little as possible on catchers due to the inconsistency of performance, or lack thereof. In snake drafts, most catchers don't get drafted till the later rounds of the draft. I think, based on the stats provided above that catchers can get drafted a few rounds earlier. Or in auction leagues, owners can spend a few more bucks on most of the catchers listed above.

If you want power, you can draft a Brian McCann, Geovany Soto, or Chris Iannetta. Iannetta could challenge McCann for the catcher HR title in 2009. If you want speed, you can draft Russell Martin, that is, before Joe Torre moves him to 3b permanently.

The catcher position is only going to get better with the likes of the Giants Pablo Sandoval and Brewers Angel Salome hitting their way into their respective lineups in 2009.

Sandoval, in 145 ABs, hit .345-.357-.490 with 3 HRs and 24 RBIs with the big league club in 2008. In 448 ABs at A San Jose and AA Connecticut, Sandoval hit .350-.394-.578 with 20 HRs and 86 RBIs. Sandoval has continued his torrid hitting in the Venezuelan Winter League by hitting .419-.438-.860 with 4 HRs in 43 ABs through November 4th. Sandoval could catch or play 1b in 2009 for the Giants.

In AA Hunstville, Salome hit .360-.415-.559 with 13 HRs and 83 RBIs in 367 ABs. He is the heir apparent to Jason Kendall, and should crack the lineup in 2009.

This analysis shows that the catcher position will be deep come 2009 drafts. When was the last time you could say that??

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Comments

Most Likely Over-hyped

I’m a big Iannetta fan, but I can see him beign the most over-drafted catcher going into 2009. His OBP makes him likely to hit and his SLG combined with his home park will do wonders.

I’m guessing he goes off the board in the 6th/7th rounds as a Top 5-ish catcher behind McCann, Soto, Mauer, Martinez and Martin.

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by faketeams on Nov 7, 2008 9:40 AM EST reply actions