Catchers are often a lesser consideration in fantasy baseball leagues that require just one starter, but we want a right answer at every position. So let’s throw the backstops through the Shuffle Up car wash today, figure out how they rank rest of season. Please roll up your windows, put your car in neutral.
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Everything to this point is an audition. Assume a 5×5 scoring system. Players at the same salary are considered even. Consider this list as you self scout your roster, work on trades and pickups, or perhaps even draft a fresh league starting from scratch.
Tier 1: The Big Tickets
Raleigh has become the perfect player at the position, clearly separating himself. Consider his ranks among qualified catchers: he’s first in plate appearances, runs, home runs, RBI and steals. He’s also coming off a Gold Glove season, marking his spot in the lineup. Imagine if Raleigh wasn’t held down by Seattle’s ballpark — his OPS is 242 points higher on the road. But Raleigh is a right answer in any stadium in 2025.
Goodman has picked up 23 DH starts in addition to his 27 catcher starts, which explains him leading the position in at-bats. Volume is always a key for any fantasy sport. Goodman should get a kick from Coors Field but that hasn’t happened yet — his OPS is 192 points higher on the road. Expect that outlier to iron itself out during the summer. The Rockies don’t have much to offer us, but Goodman has been a find this season.
O’Hoppe’s game is raw power and it’s validated through the metrics — his expected slugging is a juicy .541 and his hard-hit rate is in the 93th percentile. He rarely walks and he strikes out a third of the time, but given how explosive his connections are, we won’t sweat that approach. The .323 BABIP leads to a plus average, and that’s supported by the consistent squaring of the baseball.
Pérez might be the best buy-low in baseball. His expected stats suggest a .293 average and .527 slugging; his back of card stats read .226 and .357, respectively. There’s nothing wrong with him. Pérez somehow went 31 games without a homer, but he did knock two balls out of the park last week. The perfect time to act is now.
Tier 2: Talk Them Up, Talk Them Down
We talked about Narváez as a pickup in Monday’s piece, so all that stuff carries over to here. He’s also marking his territory with excellent defense, shoving Connor Wong out of the way. And with the Red Sox dealing with injuries and underperformance on their offense, Narváez is getting better lineup real estate of late. This feels legit.
Although Wells is just a tick above the Mendoza Line, he still grades as the C10 in banked 5×5 value because of regular playing time, eight home runs, and a whopping 31 RBI. Lineup buoyancy matters.
Rutschman is starting to give off all those Matt Wieters vibes, a scary thing. Both were lofty draft picks who arrived in the majors as fully-formed contributors, but we have to note Wieters was done as a plus offensive player by his age-26 season. Is history repeating itself? Rutschman turned 27 in February. The luck stats point to a possible rebound, suggesting that Rutschman is due 57 points in batting average and 120 points in slugging. But the granular stats tell us he earned last year’s mediocre .250/.318/.391 slash.
Tier 3: Some Plausible Upside
Dingler wasn’t Detroit’s primary catcher when the season started but he’s earned the job through an unexpected offensive profile and plus defense (he’s fourth in defensive WAR). The offense comes as a surprise, as Dingler didn’t hit a lick in a 27-game trial last season (to be fair, that came on the heels of 71 excellent games at Triple-A). The Ohio State product and former second-round pick is settling in nicely in The Thumb.
Perhaps the mileage is starting to catch up to Realmuto, who is a below-average offensive player for the first time in 10 years. He’s even become somewhat of a rally killer, grounding into 10 double plays. He started the year in a decent lineup slot, but these days he’s usually batting seventh. Although his walk rate is up and his strikeout rate is stable, declining bat speed mutes the effectiveness of his contact. This is what an age-34 season often looks like at baseball’s most demanding position.
Tier 4: Bargain Bin
If your league requires two catchers, note Caratini is picking up extra DH work for Houston while Yordan Álvarez is on the IL. Caratini is slashing .283/.353/.433 in May.
Bailey’s outstanding defense keeps him on the field, but his leaky bat (.172 average, 32.7% strikeouts, just one homer) keeps him off the fantasy radar. The San Francisco pitchers appreciate him, anyway.
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