Catcher has become such a difficult position in fantasy baseball to approach — as my three-year-old daughter would say, "it's tricky." In many ways, it's like the MLB version of tight end: a couple of studs, a few decent value picks who provide on-again, off-again production, and a litany of boom-or-bust guys. Still, sleepers can be found in the catcher pool, and today we will uncover the five most intriguing draft-day values at backstop.
For most infield positions — as well as relief pitcher — we typically rank 40-50 players. For starting pitcher and outfield, it's more like 85-100. However, for catcher, the red-headed stepchild of fantasy baseball, we usually only rank about 30 players tops. Why? Because projecting catchers beyond the top 30 is about as futile as predicting the weather patterns in 2030.
So, if you're in a 12-team or 14-team league, we've got you covered with rankings and sleepers for the C-eligible of fantasyland. If you're in a two-catcher league — which are truly terrible, if you ask me — you're on your own if you wait until the end of the draft to grab a second catcher. The point of a two-catcher league is to increase the importance of the catcher position (for whatever reason). So, naturally, drafting a second catcher should take precedence over grabbing your eighth bench player.
2023 FANTASY RANKINGS & DOLLAR VALUES:
Cs | 1Bs | 2Bs | 3Bs | SSs | OFs | SPs | RPs | Top 300
Okay, rant over. As I said, some sleepers do exist in the catcher landscape. If "they were all bad," like Arnold Schwarzenegger once said, we probably would have combined catchers and first basemen into one position like FanDuel does in its DFS contests (honestly, it's brilliant). But you're old school, and you want to be rewarded for doing your due diligence on the doodiest offensive position in sports (my daughter says doodie, too — crap humor can be especially hilarious within toddler circles).
Speaking of doodoo, you'll probably read all over the Internet that MJ Melendez of the Royals should be considered a top sleeper in this catcher class. We beg to differ. He's got some hard-hitting data on his side and he's enjoyed a solid spring, yes, but we didn't like what we saw during the 2022 season. He had a woeful 24.5 percent strikeout rate — whiffing 0.28 times per at-bat and 1.02 times per game — and maintained an absolutely abysmal .258 batting average on balls in play (BABIP). The fantasy pundits-a-plenty can keep their sleeper — this MJ's no GOAT.
2023 FANTASY SLEEPERS & VALUES:
1Bs | 2Bs | 3Bs | SSs | OFs | SPs | RPs
Our definition of "sleeper," at least for these exercises: player we value much higher than his ADP might otherwise suggest he's worth. Typically, this sort of player strikes us as a bounce-back candidate, a young under-the-radar riser, a veteran coming off an injury, or just a guy whose batted-ball data lends credence to looming positive regression.
This column is not suggesting that you need any of the following players for your team to succeed. Instead, think of it as a cheat sheet of names you should consider targeting at least one to three rounds ahead of their ADP if you don't draft one of the elite options. Fantasy baseball championships aren't won on draft day — and they certainly aren't won in the first five rounds. The value and upside you collect in the middle-to-late rounds can make or break your team's chances of contending for a title -- and yes, that includes the catcher position.
Let's get into our favorite sleepers at catcher, with a brief explanation as to why we value each of them well above their ADP.
Fantasy Baseball Catcher Sleepers 2023: Breakouts, values, draft-day steals
Position eligibility based on Yahoo's default settings. ADPs courtesy of Fantasy Pros.
William Contreras, Brewers (ADP: 129)
Say it with me now: Willson, left, William, right. Willson = Cub, William = Brewer. Brother Willson has been drafted thirty spots ahead of William on average this spring, but that's just a textbook example of fantasy managers mailing in their catcher prep. William was better with the Braves last season than Willson was for Chicago. Hell, he even got selected as an All-Star! He hit 20 home runs and drove in 45 in under 100 total games, while posting a slash line of .278/.354/.506. Did he benefit from his staggering .344 BABIP? Of course. Did he strike out a bunch? Absolutely. Are his ground ball rates a bit alarming at times? Sure. But never mind all that. This dude went yard on 27 percent of his fly balls! If you can use your 120th pick in the draft to land Contreras — a power-hitting catcher who bats fifth in a solid Brewers lineup and just hit .278 last year — you kinda have to do it.
Kelbert Ruiz, Nationals (ADP: 200)
You can hate on him because he's a National and his rookie year slash line was .251/.313/.360, but I've got Ruiz at C12 and I'm not budging. Washington clearly likes what they see in the kid, considering they just inked him to an eight-year, $50 million deal (Did I really just say "inked him?" Sounds like a squid attack). Here's the reason to see the promise in Ruiz: he mashed seven homers, drove in 36 runs, and stole six bags in just 112 games last season. And according to our friends at FantasyPros, his expected batting average, strikeout percentage, and whiff percentage all ranked in the 90th percentile or higher. We still won't watch any Nats games, but we might draft Ruiz by the 16th round.
Yasmani Grandal, White Sox (ADP: 288)
Grandal battled injuries most of the 2022 season, and as a result, he was forced to DH more times than he would probably like to admit. The veteran catcher has always made it clear that he prefers playing catcher over DH, so he was probably overjoyed to hear White Sox manager Pedro Grifol say "I haven't really thought about him as a DH. He's our catcher." That's huge — look at his career batting splits by position:
| Split | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | BABAIP |
| as C | 0.243 | 0.355 | 0.449 | 0.803 | 0.277 |
| as 1B | 0.21 | 0.323 | 0.397 | 0.719 | 0.256 |
| as DH | 0.179 | 0.314 | 0.248 | 0.563 | 0.247 |
| as PH | 0.207 | 0.348 | 0.37 | 0.718 | 0.319 |
Grandal seems healthy, so we are more than optimistic he will put together a good campaign. It may start a little bumpy, but the bones are good in Grandal's hitting house, so we're fine with making a late-draft bid on him.
Joey Bart, Giants (ADP: 316)
As we will with every positional sleepers column, we saved the best for last with Bart. You shouldn't be drawn to him just because of the endless possibilities you could explore using his surname for punny team names — you should also consider drafting him because he's pretty good (and backup Roberto Perez is not). In the last round of the draft, you're able to lock down the Giants' everyday catcher, a 26-year-old who has accompanied his .300/.391/.550 spring slash line with a homer, three walks, and two steals in just 23 plate appearances. He underwhelmed last season, but you try filling in the cleats of Buster Posey! You're gonna get some strikeouts, to be sure, but you're also getting a guy who makes things happen almost every time he makes contact (his .439 expected wOBA led all catchers in 2022). Sign me up for Joey and let's root for some Bart bombs!
