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Good morning, people! If your week started terribly yesterday, I have a good word for you today. Just think to yourself:
At least I’m not a staff writer at Fake Teams this week. They’re talking about catchers all week!
Yikes!
Anyway, as far as I know most leagues still carry at least one backstop, so slog through the catcher muck we must. Here is the link for all of this week’s content, which you can also find by clicking on “Catcher Week!” on faketeams.com. But in case you’re strapped for time, here’s what dropped yesterday:
And now, the moment you’ve dreamed of for the last five minutes...Part 2 of our catcher rankings! Here you will find only a few interesting choices. You’ll clearly see that I am drinking the Astudillo Kool-Aid. I blame Joe for talking about Willians frequently on the local podcast.
Anyhoo, I’m also open to Yan Gomes in Washington, and that’s an avenue I’ll explore more as the week carries on. My Braves fandom (and subsequent respect for Kurt Suzuki) make it difficult to be too bullish, though. Over the last two years, Suzuki has been worth 4.6 WAR, good for seventh among all catchers. Gomes is younger and the superior defender, but he checks in at 10th over the same stretch (3.9 WAR). Point is, Suzuki can play. We’ll see what gets unearthed as the week goes along, but that’s one situation I plan to dig into a little more. Any insight into playing time could be invaluable.
Top 16-30
| Name | Team | Consensus | Avg Rank | Heath | Punk | Joe | Scoby | Zack | Mark | Matt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Team | Consensus | Avg Rank | Heath | Punk | Joe | Scoby | Zack | Mark | Matt |
| Robinson Chirinos | HOU | 16.0 | 16.6 | 15 | 13 | 20 | 19 | 17 | 19 | 13 |
| Willians Astudillo | MIN | 17.0 | 16.9 | 13 | 22 | 13 | 21 | 24 | 11 | 14 |
| Yan Gomes | WAS | 18.0 | 17.9 | 16 | 24 | 17 | 17 | 12 | 22 | 17 |
| Jonathan Lucroy | LAA | 19.0 | 18.7 | 23 | 28 | 19 | 15 | 16 | 10 | 20 |
| Austin Hedges | SDP | 20.0 | 20.4 | 21 | 19 | 25 | 12 | 22 | 20 | 24 |
| Tyler Flowers | ATL | 21.0 | 21.1 | 25 | 18 | 14 | 18 | 28 | 27 | 18 |
| Isiah Kiner-Falefa | TEX | 22.0 | 22.4 | 19 | 25 | 26 | 14 | 18 | 29 | 26 |
| Kurt Suzuki | WAS | 23.0 | 22.6 | 29 | 15 | 15 | 25 | 30 | 25 | 19 |
| Elias Diaz | PIT | 24.0 | 23.1 | 26 | 31 | 11 | 26 | 23 | 23 | 22 |
| Omar Narvaez | SEA | 25.0 | 23.7 | 30 | 27 | 33 | 23 | 20 | 33 | - |
| Austin Barnes | LAD | 27.0 | 24.0 | 22 | 21 | 31 | 27 | 50 | 17 | - |
| Mitch Garver | MIN | 28.0 | 24.0 | 27 | 20 | 35 | 28 | 32 | 26 | - |
| Chris Iannetta | COL | 26.0 | 28.3 | 20 | 26 | 32 | 31 | 29 | 30 | 30 |
| John Hicks | DET | 29.0 | 29.4 | 24 | 23 | 36 | 24 | 42 | 28 | 29 |
| Manny Pina | MIL | 30.0 | 29.9 | 32 | 29 | 16 | 29 | 48 | 32 | 23 |
Who do you like? Who did we miss? Be sure to check back in at noon for more catcher propaganda!