Fantasy Baseball catcher rest-of-season rankings tiers: Is the Gary Sanchez bounce-back real?

Fantasy analyst

Tue, Jun 13, 2023, 7:25 PM·3 min read

Fantasy Baseball catcher rest-of-season rankings tiers: Is the Gary Sanchez bounce-back real?

Round 2 of the Shuffle Up series for fantasy baseball continues — the in-season version. What you see below is how I would arrange the catcher position if I were entering a new draft today. Use it to evaluate your team, consider pickups and drops, grade trade offers — it’s up to you.

My salaries are unscientific in nature, meant primarily to show how I rank players and, more specifically, where the clusters of talent are. Your list will look different, of course. That's why we have a game.

I’ll link to previous shuffles at the bottom.

The Big Tickets

$21 Sean Murphy

$20 J.T. Realmuto

$19 Salvador Pérez

$19 Will Smith

$18 Adley Rutschman

$17 Daulton Varsho

Varsho has been a better real-life player than a fantasy one, keeping his value afloat through playing time (he leads the position in at-bats) and category juice (11 homers, nine steals). He hasn’t caught a game this year, which means he’s in line to lose the catching tag for 2024. That’s next year’s problem. ... Murphy plays for the NL’s best team, gets a healthy share of playing time, and provides plus value in four of the five main categories. His batting average is 39 points higher than his career mark, but the 2023 number is merited — he’s sitting on a juicy .292 expected batting average. Most of his Baseball Savant sliders are on the right side, some of them pinned — that’s the good side. ... Perez isn’t walking much, but that has always been the story of his career — 3.2% walk rate this year, 3.6 for his career. It works for him. His career average is .288, and he has always been one of the safest volume bets at this position.

Legitimate Building Blocks

$16 Jonah Heim

$14 Willson Contreras

$13 Francisco Álvarez

$12 Elías Díaz

$12 Tyler Stephenson

$9 Shea Langeliers

$9 Gabriel Moreno

$8 Cal Raleigh

$8 William Contreras

$8 Mitch Garver

Alvarez is the top fantasy catcher over the past month, and he has recently been promoted in the Mets lineup. He’s pushing for a spot in the top tier when we revisit the position in a month. His defense hasn’t been a problem, either; the Mets trust him, and so do the pitchers. ... Stephenson’s season feels an eyelash disappointing, but good health and volume have him slotted as the C9 in banked value. It’s mostly a nod to his 233 at-bats, as his OPS+ is 21 points lower than his career mark, and the .361 slugging is a major disappointment. ... Garver’s salary is basically a medium between his binary outcomes. He’s probably a $13-15 option if he can stay healthy, and if he’s hurt again, you’re dropping him before the month is through. The Rangers have built the game’s best offense, scoring a lovely 6.25 runs per game.

Talk Them Up, Talk Them Down

$7 Yan Gomes

$7 MJ Melendez

$7 Christian Bethancourt

$7 Alejandro Kirk

$6 Blake Sabol

$6 Keibert Ruiz

$6 Yasmani Grandal

$5 Connor Wong

$5 Matt Thaiss

$4 Nicholas Fortes

$4 Travis d'Arnaud

$3 Jake Rogers

$3 Gary Sánchez

$3 Patrick Bailey

Slot Ruiz on the buy-low list, noting that his expected average is 54 points higher than the current .235. He also has impeccable plate discipline, striking out an absurd 7.8% of the time. The Nationals shouldn’t regret this long-term contract. ... Rogers has a batting average that hurts to look at, but he has flashed power, and Eric Haase isn’t doing much, so a permanent change could be coming in Detroit. ... It’s too early to know how real the Sanchez story is, but he has popped five homers in just 43 San Diego at-bats.