Fantasy Baseball 2016: Top 20 NL-Only Catcher Rankings

I will be publishing my NL-only catcher rankings today and my AL-only catcher rankings tomorrow. I play in four NL-only leagues, two of which are keeper leagues, and one of which is the Tout Wars NL Auction Experts league. I play in one AL-only keeper league as well.

Last season, only three catchers hit 20 or more home runs, and all three were from the American League - Brian McCann, Russell Martin and Salvador Perez. That should change in 2016, as the National League has up to six catchers that could reach the 20 home run level, including Buster Posey, Kyle Schwarber, Yasmani Grandal, Travis d'Arnaud, Welington Castillo and Devin Mesoraco.

Except for a rare few catchers, they usually don't hit for a high batting average. Of all catchers with 300 or more plate appearances last season, seven hit .270 or higher, and six of those seven were from the National League: Buster Posey, Nick Hundley, A.J. Pierzynski, Francisco Cervelli, Blake Swihart, Brayan Pena, and Yadier Molina.

National League catchers fared well in OBP leagues last season as well, as no fewer than 14 catchers finished with an OBP above the .319 league average last season, and eight of them played more than 100 games.

There aren't many every day catchers in baseball anymore, but last season, there were five NL catchers who received 500 or more plate appearances: Posey, Norris, Molina, Cervelli and Ramos. An additional five more catchers received 400 or more plate appearances last season, led by Grandal, Realmuto, Lucroy, Pierzynski and Montero. I can see Pierzynski and Montero losing plate appearances to Tyler Flowers and Schwarber and David Ross.

Catching Prospects who can make an impact in 2016

Tom Murphy, Rockies

Murphy has power and he plays in Coors Field, so of course you should have him on your target list on draft day. He may make the Rockies Opening Day roster, but if he doesn't, he could get a call up early in the season, A trade or an injury to starting catcher Nick Hundley is all that is needed for Murphy to see regular time at Coors.

Andrew Knapp, Phillies

The Phillies are in a rebuild right now, and they may not want to rush Knapp, but if he hits in Triple A like he did in Double A, they may want to give him a call up in July or so to get him acclimated to handling a big league rotation.

Austin Barnes, Dodgers

Barnes may not see much time behind the plate for the big league club in 2016, as the Dodgers have Grandal and A.J. Ellis blocking him. But, he could see time at second base or third base this season, as Justin Turner is coming off knee surgery and Chase Utley is no young pup at the keystone.

For those of you in 12 team mixed leagues, I can see up to 13 or 14 of the NL catchers listed below being drafted in two catcher mixed leagues this season.

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