Fantasy Prospect Catcher Rankings for 2012

by Ray Guilfoyle on Dec 19, 2011 9:00 AM EST in 2012 Fantasy Prospect Rankings

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 05: Jesus Montero #63 of the New York Yankees celebrates his seventh-inning two-run home run against the Baltimore Orioles on September 5, 2011 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. It was montero's second home run of the game. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Here at Fake Teams, one of our objectives is to provide the best fantasy baseball advice on the internet, and it would not be complete without providing our 2012 Fantasy Baseball Prospect Rankings. Jason and I will be giving you our take on the Prospect rankings by position for 2012. Some positions are harder than others to rank, especially catcher, since there are some catching prospects, think Jesus Montero, who have the bat to play in the majpr leagues, but not the glove. While others have the glove, Tim Federowicz, and not the bat.

Today, I start with the top fantasy catching prospects for 2012. These rankings are for fantasy purposes, and JUST for 2012.

I will also provide a ranking for those of you in keeper leagues, so let's get started with our catching prospect rankings for 2012:

1. Jesus Montero, NYY

2. Devin Mesoraco, CIN

3. Ryan Lavarnway, BOS

4. Travis d'Arnaud, TOR

5. Yasmani Grandal, CIN

6. Wilin Rosario, COL

7. Salvador Perez, KC

8. Austin Romine, NYY

9. Derek Norris, WAS

10. Chun-Hsiu Chen, CLE

11. Carlos Perez, TOR

12. Tony Sanchez, PIT

13. Tim Federowicz, LAD

14. Gorman Erickson, LAD

15. Tommy Joseph, SFG

I compared Mesoraco and d'Arnaud in an article over at Minor League Ball on Sunday morning, so head on over and check it out.

Some notes on these rankings, along with keeper league rankings, after the jump:

It has yet to be determined if Yankees catching prospect Jesus Montero will be catcher eligible for 2012 fantasy drafts, as he only played 3 games at catcher after his call up in 2011. I am working under the assumption that he will since he played catcher in AAA. If he is, he is the top catching prospect in baseball, and could end up being a top 4-5 fantasy catcher in 2012.

It remains to be seen if the Red Sox will give Ryan Lavarnway some playing time at catcher in 2012 after signing Kelly Shoppach this offseason. Shoppach will platoon with Jarrod Saltalamacchia, but Lavarnway has the better bat than the two of them. It is possible that Lavarnway beats out Saltalamacchia for the backup catcher spot out of spring training, so this battle bares watching come March.

Another battle that fantasy owners should watch is in Toronto, as Travis d'Arnaud appears to be very close to being big league ready, but J.P. Arencibia currently holds down the starting catcher spot. d'Arnaud is the better all around catcher of the two, and is probably the best catching prospect in the minors with Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco assuming the Reds starting catcher role in 2012.

Saturday's trade that saw the Reds trade catching prospect Yasmani Grandal to the Padres in a package for Mat Latos improves Grandal's ranking here, and we could see him in San Diego by the middle of the 2012 season. The Padres are in rebuild mode, and could dangle current starting catcher Nick Hundley at the trade deadline, creating room for Grandal.

Here are my 2012 catcher rankings for keeper/dynasty leagues:

1. Jesus Montero, NYY

2. Devin Mesoraco, CIN

3. Travis d'Arnaud, TOR

4. Yasmani Grandal, CIN

5. Gary Sanchez, NYY

6. Ryan Lavarnway, BOS

7. Derek Norris, WAS

8. Wilin Rosario, COL

9. Tommy Joseph, SFG

10. Jorge Alfaro, TEX

11. Austin Hedges, SD

12. Austin Romine, NYY

13. Sebastian Valle, PHI

Tweet Comment 11 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Grandal

in your opinion does the move to SD help or hurt him as a prospect? obviously the increase in assumed playing time helps, but Hundley is still young and under team control.

I think it helps to get out of Mesocaro’s shadow, but to what degree?

Ride the tiger...You can see his stripes but you know he's clean.

by James Westfall on Dec 19, 2011 6:52 PM EST reply actions

I think it speeds up his time to the big leagues

his power output could suffer a bit, but he should tear up the PCL this season, and probably get a call up later in 2012. The Padres also have John Baker so one of them will get dealt, I imagine….possibly later in the year, or in a package with Rizzo, possibly?

Ray Guilfoyle
www.faketeams.com
www.minorleagueball.com
www.mlbdailydish.com

by Ray Guilfoyle on Dec 19, 2011 7:54 PM EST up reply actions

Grandal in the PCL

His numbers could be just obscene, which could lead to overvaluation among some (lazy) prospectors.

by pooptallica on Dec 20, 2011 12:16 AM EST up reply actions

salty and shoppach

“Shoppach will platoon with Jarrod Saltalamacchia, but Lavarnway has the better bat than the two of them. It is possible that Lavarnway beats out Saltalamacchia for the backup catcher spot out of spring training, so this battle bares watching come March.” that’s what you wrote, but i don’t believe it. shoppach and lavarnway both bat right handed. salty is a switch hitter but terrible from the right side and very decent hitting lefty. so to my way of thinking even in a platoon salty gets the majority of the starts. lavarnway may be a good hitter, and may emerge on top. but i have not read good things about his defense. as for shoppach, he has been terrible for the last 2 or 3 years. do you see shoppach making a great improvement—-enough to win the starting role. i have salty as the number 2 catcher in my 16 team dynasty league. so you see why i am defending him, but even at that, i think he gets the majority of the ABs this season.

by callmezeke on Dec 19, 2011 8:07 PM EST reply actions

Salty

yeah you might be right, but .235-.288-.450 tells me he may not be a starter for long.

Ray Guilfoyle
www.faketeams.com
www.minorleagueball.com
www.mlbdailydish.com

by Ray Guilfoyle on Dec 19, 2011 9:47 PM EST up reply actions

I think

They want Lavarnway to get a full year at AAA to see if he can catch or not. Better that than him catching once or twice a week in the bigs, and occasionally DHing if Ortiz needs a day off. Aslo, agree that Salty is the starter right now. For me, bringing Shoppach in says that he will be the backup, and Lavarnway is going to AAA. In the long term, I think that’s better for both Lavarnway and the Red Sox – if he can get to catching well enough to keep a big league job, then he’s that much more valuable.

by A Behemoth on Dec 25, 2011 10:51 AM EST up reply actions

gary sanchez

people put him down for his defense. then they put him down for his effort. i’m not sure what to believe. you rank him 5. is he the real deal?

by callmezeke on Dec 19, 2011 8:10 PM EST reply actions

he's very young

so its just part of the maturity process as an adult and a player….maybe he struggled for the first time in his career and didn’t handle it well, Not sure, but he should be fine in a few years when he is closer to the big leagues.

Ray Guilfoyle
www.faketeams.com
www.minorleagueball.com
www.mlbdailydish.com

by Ray Guilfoyle on Dec 19, 2011 9:50 PM EST up reply actions

2012 rankings

Is it safe to say, there are the top 6, and then there’s a dropoff to everyone else?

by The Teeto on Dec 20, 2011 4:41 PM EST reply actions

I think Perez

is undervalued if you are playing in a deep league, because he will get more playing time than anyone outside of Montero/Mesoraco. What he does with it is another question – I doubt he’ll be mixed league relevant, but in AL only, or 2C formats then he will contribute in 2012.

by A Behemoth on Dec 25, 2011 10:53 AM EST up reply actions