Fantasy Baseball: Reviewing 2009 NL Catchers

by Ray Guilfoyle on Sep 22, 2009 9:15 AM EDT in Baseball Comment 2 comments

San Francisco Giants' Buster Posey gets his first major league hit against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the ninth inning of a baseball game in Los Angeles, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

4 months ago: San Francisco Giants' Buster Posey gets his first major league hit against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the ninth inning of a baseball game in Los Angeles, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

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Coming into the 2009 season, I was of the belief that the NL catching position was deep and that you could wait to draft a catcher well into your 2009 drafts, and still grab a quality catcher. Well, in my Big league draft, I didn't follow my own advice and I wanted to grab the top catcher from 2008-Geovany Soto-in the 4th round!! He is just one of the reasons for my out of money performance in my Big league.

I was reviewing how the NL catchers have performed in 2009, and it's pretty abysmal. Let's take a look:

Player	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	KO	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Montero, Miguel C ARI	390	53	115	30	14	54	36	69	1	0.295	0.356	0.48	0.835
Torrealba, Yorvit C COL	183	24	53	8	2	26	19	36	1	0.29	0.356	0.366	0.722
Molina, Yadier C STL	461	42	133	22	5	49	50	36	9	0.289	0.365	0.373	0.738
McCann, Brian C ATL	448	58	129	35	20	88	41	72	3	0.288	0.35	0.505	0.855
Paulino, Ronny C FLA	214	22	58	7	8	26	22	43	1	0.271	0.338	0.425	0.763
Baker, John C FLA	351	59	95	25	9	49	39	85	0	0.271	0.35	0.419	0.769
Hanigan, Ryan C CIN	239	22	64	6	3	10	34	29	0	0.268	0.36	0.339	0.699
Molina, Bengie C SF	473	48	124	24	18	74	13	65	0	0.262	0.283	0.431	0.714
Santos, Omir C NYM	264	27	69	13	7	37	14	41	0	0.261	0.297	0.398	0.695
Nieves, Wil C WAS	213	20	55	6	1	26	13	42	1	0.258	0.303	0.301	0.604
Jaramillo, Jason C PIT	191	19	49	13	3	24	17	28	1	0.257	0.317	0.372	0.689
Ruiz, Carlos C PHI	310	32	79	24	9	42	45	36	3	0.255	0.355	0.426	0.78
Martin, Russell C LA	479	58	122	19	6	49	62	77	10	0.255	0.351	0.332	0.683
Hernandez, Ramon C CIN	273	23	68	12	5	36	32	33	1	0.249	0.33	0.355	0.685
Hill, Koyie C CHC	229	25	54	11	2	24	26	71	0	0.236	0.315	0.328	0.643
Blanco, Henry C SD	191	20	45	12	5	14	25	42	0	0.236	0.323	0.377	0.7
Kendall, Jason C MIL	417	44	98	17	1	34	45	54	7	0.235	0.325	0.288	0.613
Bard, Josh C WAS	248	18	58	17	5	30	20	47	0	0.234	0.293	0.363	0.656
Doumit, Ryan C PIT	245	27	57	14	9	33	15	41	4	0.233	0.277	0.4	0.677
Hundley, Nick C SD	222	17	51	12	6	24	25	64	2	0.23	0.308	0.383	0.691
Coste, Chris C HOU	200	15	45	12	2	17	22	55	0	0.225	0.305	0.315	0.62
Iannetta, Chris C COL	278	39	62	13	15	50	40	71	0	0.223	0.335	0.446	0.781
Soto, Geovany C CHC	307	27	68	18	11	43	46	70	1	0.222	0.322	0.394	0.716
Schneider, Brian C NYM	159	10	32	10	3	24	18	21	0	0.201	0.282	0.321	0.603
Snyder, Chris C ARI	165	20	33	7	6	22	32	47	0	0.2	0.333	0.352	0.685

I grouped this list by batting average, as you really want your catcher to possess two skills in fantasy/roto baseball. The ability to hit for a high average, and to hit HRs. As you can see from the list above, there weren't many catchers hitting HRs in 2009. There were only 5 catchers that hit more than 10 HRs in 2009, lead by Brian McCann's 20.

I recall that some of the experts in either the Toutwars or LABR NL-only draft spending $20+ on McCann, Russell Martin, and Geovany Soto. Only McCann came close to earning $20+.

Going into 2010 drafts, I am sure the catcher who will get all the hype will be Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero. He probably went undrafted in many leagues, but has broekn out this season with a 14-54-53-.295-.356-.480 performance in 390 ABs. He could be the 2nd catcher taken in NL-only leagues in 2010 due to the disappointing seasons from Martin, Soto, and Chris Iannetta to name a few.

Finally, the only catcher that may be more hyped going into 2010 could be the Giants Buster Posey. Posey should be the Giants starting catcher in 2010, replacing an aging Bengie Molina, who is a free agent at the end of this season.

Poll

Who will be the 2nd catcher drafted behind Brian McCann in NL-only leagues in 2010?

Russell Martin-he will bounce back in 2010.

14 votes

Geovany Soto-see Martin

13 votes

Miguel Montero-he broke out in 2009, and could produce more power in 2010.

22 votes

Buster Posey

16 votes

65 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Catchers

The NL catcher position is a weak one indeed, I’ve been all over the place this year having owned Soto – Doumit and now Montero but it hasn’t been a pleasant ride. I wasn’t sold on Soto after last year and I’m glad I did not panic and pick him up with a high draft pick. His BABIP last year was a bit high, and the same can be said about Russell Martin.

I’d rank them like this for next year
McCann
Iannetta
Soto
Martin
Doumit

McCann is the proven one. Iannetta has been the unlucky one but he still plays in a favorable ballpark. Soto is the one for which an opinion can’t be made yet. Martin is the one who ran out of luck (.322 BABIP Last year). Doumit has been boggled by injures but peripherals suggest that he was very lucky in 2008 as well.

by Ha_v_oc on Sep 22, 2009 12:57 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Catchers Part Deux

Playing in primarily AL leagues, I haven’t usually had to deal with this problem, but I did participate in a mixed-auction league, and Ryan Doumit was a letdown to be sure. It was only a ten team league starting one catcher, though, so not quite as much of an impact as a two-catcher league or an NL-only.

I actually like Doumit as a strong rebound for next year of the guys who have struggled. In the last month he’s batted around .275 with several HRs and looked a lot more like his 2007/2008 self. Still early, but my rankings would probably look something like this:

McCann
Doumit
Montero
Iannetta
Martin
Soto
Posey?

I think I’m either going with one of the first three early, but not reaching too hard on either of the next three. Look at Wieters though in evaluating Posey; he had more potential and hasn’t produced up to the hype, so keep your expectations realistic.

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by Bryan Everson (The Royalty of Roto) on Sep 22, 2009 11:55 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

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