Catching Up

By Robby Wellington – Staff Writer

Catchers always seem to be a forgotten position in fantasy baseball, primarily because most of them just aren’t any good.  I’ve identified the seven guys that matter at the position, ranking them in projected fantasy value from here on out.

1. Victor Martinez – Martinez is a first baseman playing behind the plate, this generation’s Mike Piazza.
2. Russell Martin – 10 steals goes a long way in fantasy baseball and goes even further when a catcher gets them.  20/20 out of the catcher spot is pretty special, and I would rather have Martin from here on out than Mauer.
3. Joe Mauer – Mauer’s phenomenal batting average and helpful steal totals are deadened by low home run totals.  For a big guy who is supposedly the greatest athlete of all time, Mauer has a surprising lack of power.  Still, he’s a stud and probably can’t be “bought low” from his owner.
4. Brian McCann – A huge disappointment, McCann is still the clearcut No. 4 catcher right now.  He should right the ship a bit in the second half and show that last year wasn’t a complete aberration.
5. Jorge Posada – 358?!  Where did this come from?  While Posada’s average should fall 60-70 points over the rest of the year, he is hitting in the best lineup in baseball.
6. Kenji Johjima – Kenji seems to have progressed a bit from a solid rookie campaign into an unspectacular but solid second-tier guy.
7. Ivan Rodriguez – I-Rod just keeps on plugging away, doing some damage in the middle of the Tigers’ solid lineup.  His 0-2 in steals this year is a bit worrisome though.

Honestly, if you don’t own one of these seven guys, then you’re probably playing a waiver-wire level guy.  I don’t see much difference between Jason Varitek, Mike Napoli, John Buck, Bengie Molina, Michael Barrett, Mike Piazza, Johnny Estrada, etc…  If you have the time and energy for it, you’re best off starting whichever one of these catchers is hot and has a favorable matchup on a day-to-day basis.  Or you can just be like me, grab Jason Varitek and forget about the position for the rest of the year.