Fantasy Baseball Today - 2023 Catcher Recap! Top Performers & Early 2024 Rankings (10/17 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: October 17, 2023

Welcome back, Frank! What happened to the Braves (4:50)!? ... Let's recap the catcher position from the 2023 season, starting with William Contreras and Adley Rutschman (11:55). ... J.T. Realmuto and Will Smith had slightly down years (15:06). ... Cal Raleigh improved his game in 2023 (23:10). ... Is Jonah Heim legit (27:26)? ... Willson Contreras and Sean Murphy had opposite seasons (34:50). ... What's the latest in the playoffs (41:30)? ... News (46:30): Brandon Woodruff will miss most of next season. ... Let's get into the top-10 catchers for 2024 (54:30). ... There are so many young, fun catchers to be excited about in the top-20 (1:01:14). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. It's never too early for 2024 rankings. And first up, we have catchers.

Welcome in Tough Fantasy Baseball today on Tuesday, October 17th. And I'm back. Frank Stamphill here, joined by Skok. Scott White. Today on the show, we enter our position recap portion of the off season. Today we'll focus on the top catchers from 2023. We'll take an early look at Scott's catcher rankings for 2024 as well. Also, what's the latest in the playoffs? We'll get to that just a little bit later on. Scott, great job holding it down. You and the Welsh. I listened to both episodes on the way back. My eight and a half hour flight from Germany had

not much else going on. So I was like, let me listen, see how they did. And let me say, you guys did almost a little too good. A little too good for you. I mean, I just came on here and did my normal thing. So I guess most of the credit goes to the Welsh, who did an admiral job filling in as the host. I mean, he served as the host for a very brief interim period

before you were ever the host. So that should get you sweating too, Frank. No, it's good to have you back. We missed you, and it's rare that you ever are not here. I'm glad you got to take some time off, and I'm glad that you're back. Yeah, fantastic time out in Poland visiting my wife's in-laws. She has a lot of family out there. We went to a wedding.

We went to a salt mine. I got to try some exotic food that I've never had before. So awesome time out in Poland. You went to the salt mines. Yes, I went to a salt mine. It's like, I don't know, big landmark kind of historical thing that people go to there. And yeah,

you really know how to take a vacation, Frank. I went to the salt mine on my vacation. You know, it was so interesting. They told people that they can lick the walls of the salt mine. Now, you know, it's been kind of a crazy couple of years.

I'm not sure that I clearly did not lick the wall. But yeah, there was other people licking the wall. And apparently it was really salty. I wouldn't mind licking a wall. Made of salt. But I would mind licking where others have lit.

I guess that's really the I guess that's really the hang up there. Yes, yes indeed. Not that I want to flip this podcast on its head and kind of go down a negative route, Scott, but we were talking beforehand. A lot has happened in baseball since I was last year. A lot has happened in the playoffs.

One of those things is that our World Series prediction is completely gone. The Atlanta Braves, the Tampa Bay Rays, they're all gone. What happens, Scott? I mean, everybody who's been on this podcast, all four of us, the two of us and the Chris's, we all predicted the Braves to win. So all of our World Series predictions are done. The Welsh still has the Astros and is his World Series loser.

You're asking me what happened? Yeah, what happened? Baseball, baby. That's baseball, Susan. Obviously, I was more invested in the Braves winning than any of you. And I was pretty bummed out by that. I'm a little surprised how bummed out I was, considering they just won two years ago.

And of course, nobody's going to be sad for a team that just won two years ago. So I was trying to analyze my feelings. Okay, why does this bother me so much? And I think it really, I think it comes down to two things. One is that, well, they just won two years ago. And I feel like I've,

I feel like I've had a very healthy perspective. I've developed a very healthy perspective on playoff disappointment from being a brave fan in the 90s and, you know, recognizing the random nature of baseball over a short sample size in that, you know,

no team who gets to the playoffs is entitled. to anything. My team has now won two World Series championships in my lifetime, 1995 and 2021. And if there's an even distribution of world championships, then that's all any fan should really expect to see in his lifetime is two World Series championships, unless you're going to live beyond 90,

which I don't expect to do. Maybe. Nobody should expect to live beyond 90, right? So I've already gotten my life's allotment of World Series championships. And so I should, you know, I try to keep that perspective. But 2021 showed me that it doesn't have to end in heartbreak. And so, you know, maybe I did get a little entitled. I don't know.

That's, that's factor number one. Two, I just said it. All four of us picked the Braves to win. Everybody was picking the Braves to win. They were clearly the standout team in baseball this year. And I've kind of over my time being a, fan of sports, a sports fan. I started out when I didn't have a rooting interest in a game, I would root for the underdog.

I think we all kind of naturally identify with the underdog and it's more exciting. It's, you know, we want to see something unexpected happen. So we tend to root for the underdog. But something changed over the course of my fandom where I started certainly in the case where there was a big disparity between the two teams and particularly in the case where there is a team that is clear. Clearly, there's a clear number one team in the league that year. They're kind of the center of attention all year. The year is all about them. I kind of just want to see them complete that.

You know, I don't want to have this mental hurdle looking back on that year. Like, okay, I know this team was the championship. I mean, I know this team was the champion, but really, I actually know this other team was the best team that year. It bugs me, for instance, that the 2007 Patriots didn't complete that perfect season. And Lord knows, the Patriots don't need another Super Bowl championship. So it's not about that. It's just, like, that was one of the best football teams any of us have ever seen in our lifetimes. And for some reason, we have to acknowledge that the Giants were actually the champion that year.

That just, like, that bugs me. But so you add, you take that and you add it to the fact that it was my own team. that was the front runner here and couldn't pull it off. Very frustrating. I was also telling you before the show that normally, you know, one of these ways I've kind of rationalized playoff disappointment is, okay,

such a small sample. A good team can have a stretch where things go wrong over this length of time at any point during the season. If Braves had a four-game stretch like this in June, wouldn't admit anything to anybody. but it happens to happen now in October when that four-game stretch will send you home and so it looks worse.

But the Braves, this Braves offense, record-setting offense, you know, no lead, no deficit ever seen unsurmountable for them. They played with this effortlessness that made it seem like nothing could phase them all year long. They never had a four-game stretch all season. I went to look. They never had a four-game stretch

where they scored just eight runs like they did that four-game stretch against the Phillies. So it's hard to rationalize in that way. It all adds up to being a big disappointment. But congratulations to the Phillies who seem like a wrecking ball right now. They seem to have found that extra gear that often propels teams to championships.

Then again, they also seemed to find it last October, and it didn't, it suddenly ended. Hopefully, I guess, for their fans' sake, it doesn't end this time. They're off to a good start here, obviously. Game one of the NLCS on Monday night. They had a big win against the Diamondbacks. I expect them to beat the Diamondbacks. I don't know.

I'm kind of spinning my wheels here at this point. I think there was something else I wanted to say. I'll get back to it, I guess. I've talked for probably seven minutes straight. Yeah, no, maybe not seven, but at least five. I think around five, but that's fine. We'll get to the Phillies again a little bit later on, but they are a wrecking ball right now, as you mentioned, Castellanos, Bryce Harper,

and this is kind of the Phillies offense that we were kind of waiting to turn it on and click all together all season long, and it looks like it's finally happening in the playoffs. And, you know, I think that's what's really cool about the MLB playoffs is that it's not always the best team that wins. It's whoever's hot at the right time. And I kind of like that aspect of it. It adds to the drama, right?

You never know what's going to happen in the baseball playoffs. And we're seeing that play out. right now, the Diamondbacks swept the Dodgers. It's crazy. Crazy stuff. Anywho, let's get into our 2023 catcher recap and taking a look at the position overall. We had two names ranked inside the top 100

in terms of overall roto rankings. Last year we had three, and back in 2021, we only had one. That was Salvador Perez. He was like the seventh overall player that year, something ridiculous like that. So it seemed like a pretty normal season in terms of like top 100 performers

at the catcher position. And the number one catcher might surprise you a little bit, but it wound up being William Contreras, who finished 70th overall in Roto, 291 batting average, 17 homers, 86 run scored 78 RBI, and he was helped out by a bunch of volume, 611 plate appearances,

second among catchers. He still hits way too many ground ball scott, but he hits the ball extremely hard, and he plays a lot. So I think, you know, those things all kind of added up here to William Contreras being the best catcher in fantasy. Yeah, I mean, that at Bats thing is significant.

How much he got to, how much time he spent at DH. I think it will surprise a lot of people that he finished number one. And that's really mostly what it's about is that the run advantage, the RBI advantage he got over other catcher eligible players, 86 run 78 RBI. Those are high totals for players at this position. Of course, he had to be good too. but when I was going through and putting together my early rankings for 2024,

I had a hard time sorting out exactly who should go where because it seems like there are a lot of catchers who are similarly capable at the plate. And so I think when you have one like this in William Contreras, who seems to get a big playing time advantage, that can make all the difference. And we'll see what the Brewers do in the offseason, but I don't expect it to change.

they value having his bat in the lineup enough to stick amid D.H. As often as they did. Yeah. And speaking of playing time advantages, that brings us to the number two catcher this past season. Adley Ruchman, he finished 92nd overall in Roto. He was the number one catcher in head-to-head points leagues. In the prime of his career, he turns 26 this offseason. Wound up hitting 277 with 20 homers, 84 runs, 80BI, and 809 OPS.

He is in a different stratosphere when it comes to playing time. 154 games played, 687 plate appearances, both led the position by far. Contreras, again, was second with 611 played appearances. So a 76 plate appearance difference here for Adley Ruchman. It also helps that, again, he got a lot of those games at D.H., fantastic plate discipline. He doesn't hit the ball all that hard, Scott.

But again, he just makes up with it by sheer volume, how much Adley Rutchman is on the field. And he actually underperformed his expected numbers a little bit. So maybe he even gets better next year. Yeah, I think there's a good chance of that. I mean, this was his first full season in the majors. He's still 25 years old. He's a very disciplined hitter, which helps a lot.

His expected batting average was 290. So he was 94th percentile for that. His expected slug was 76. You said he said 76% I said he underperformed that too. And that's true. The exit velocities, you know, I'm kind of just repeating everything you said at this point. They're not that. They're not that impressive, but Stackcast still thinks it should have translated to elite numbers.

And it more or less did, but with even more room there, as you pointed out. JT. Real Muto finished as the number three catcher. He was 109th overall in Roto. He was the fifth catcher in Hedgehead Points Leagues. Kind of getting up there in age, turns 33 years old in March. He hit 252 with 20 home runs, 16 stolen bases, a 762 OPS, no longer a standout in terms of playing time at the position. His 135 games were tied for eighth among catchers.

And it was a down year. The strikeout rate was a career high 25.6%. He hit more fly balls as well, which led to a slightly lowered Babbat than we're used to seeing from J.T. Realmuto. Oddly enough, Scott, I'm surprised he didn't run more. He had 16 steals was tied for most with Dalton Varsho who no longer has catcher eligibility, but JT's real Muto still 84th percentile in sprint speed. So that was a little surprising to me.

I don't know. He's still far and away the catcher. Yeah, Connor Wong was like the next actual catcher who had only eight stolen bases. Right. Now the Varsha's gone. If you're looking to get stolen bases from a catcher, Riumuto is the only,

reliable source of them. There are some up-and-comers who may be a source of them. Bo Naler comes to mind. But, you know, until we actually see it from them and know exactly what the playing time's going to look like,

it's hard to pencil him in for that, like it is with, unlike with Real Muto, who we know is likely to give you somewhere between 15 and 20 steals. Is that enough in this current store? and base environment that you should mark him up for next year, mark up Real Muto? I think that's a fair question.

I think we have to consider how legit we think the decline was. And you mentioned it was a career high strikeout rate. The guy's going to be 33 on opening day next year's. It's getting pretty old for any position, but especially a catcher and has a lot of mileage on him from those. years where he got so many at bat, so many starts behind the plate. I do still have him as my number two catcher for Roto leagues next year because of the stolen bases, because of the track record, because those two things were enough to break sort of the five-way tie or whatever it is, six-way tie with other catchers who are in the

discussion. But it wouldn't surprise me if J.T. Real Muto takes another step back next year. and at this point next year, we might no longer consider him top five at the position. Yeah, I can honestly see it going either way, which I know isn't very helpful for people listening. I mean, obviously, we have a bunch of more time to figure out how we actually feel about him this offseason. But something weird that I noticed, he hit really badly at home, 198 with a 576 OPS in Citizens Bank Park, which is typically one of the better hitters parks. And last year in 2022, he hit 314 with a number.

9.09 OPS there. So I think if there's any positive regression for him hitting at home, like obviously that'll affect his overall numbers quite a bit. I don't know if we can bank on that because again, like you said, he's getting older, but it's just kind of a weird thing that I noticed about his season. Yeah, that's a fair observation. I think if you want to take anything away from our uncertainty about Real Muto, it's that probably not somebody we're going to be highly invested in. It depends how much of a discount I think we get, you know? Right.

But if he's everybody's number two catcher drafted, I'll just go ahead and say Adley Rushman is my number one. So if Real Mutos, and I think that's going to be the chalk pick, Rushman number one at the position, but if Real Mutos everybody's number two at the position, okay, let's say number two doesn't go until round six or seven even. Well, you still know there are. all these other comparable catchers available after him. I just don't, unless he goes out of order, you know,

and gets pushed down that tier of catchers, I just don't think I'm confident enough in him anymore to buy in on him before when there are still other good options at the position. So I'm reluctant to even bring this up, Scott, but I will do it anyway, just to kind of throw some numbers out there. But there have been two drafts completed over at the NFBC for next season already. And JT. Real Muto's early ADP is 68.5. So a mid-sixth round pick.

I nailed it then. There you go. Yeah, he's going four picks after Adley Ruchman. And then the third catcher doesn't go until the ninth round. So there's a, yeah, there's a huge jump. That's a pretty big gap, yeah. I mean, obviously, look, things are going to change. I don't know that 15 steals from Real Mutual or my catcher spot,

if you prefer to think of it that way. I don't know that is worth it to me. Given the round six, I might be looking pretty hard at starting pitcher, you know? Yep. But again, it's just such a small sample size. Only two drafts done so far, but just a very, very early look.

The number four catcher this past season was Will Smith, who finished 114th overall in Roto. He was the third best catcher in head-to-head points leagues. In the prime of his career, he'll turn 29 years old. Next March, he hit 261 with 19 home runs, 80 run scored, 76 RBI. He missed 12 games earlier in the season with a concussion. And it turns out he was actually playing through an injury.

I'll get to that in just a bit. Remember, Scott, I suspected before the year that Will Smith won't get as many starts at DH because they had J.D. Martinez on the roster, and that's exactly what happened. Will Smith only had 14 starts at DH this year compared to 24 in 2022. He fell off really badly in the second half. He had 2.42 with a 701 OPS. And I was reading an article. It turns out that he was playing through a fractured rib and an oblique strain that he suffered in late April.

And apparently it didn't really start to affect him physically until around July, which, you know, would very easily explain what happened to him in the second half. So I think it's just a long way to say, I think Will Smith is probably still a stud and a standout at the position. I mean, that sounds bad playing through that. It might be too convenient of an explanation to say, oh, when he was going well, it wasn't bothering him. It was only when he started struggling. Because if you look at the final slash line for Will Smith, 261, 359, 438, almost exactly the same as last year.

And it's obviously good production for a catcher. It'll be interesting to see what the Dodgers do about the DH box. if they bring back J.D. Martinez, of course, they're rumored to be in on Shohei Otani. So that could either one of those guys could gobble up all the DH at Bats again and leave Will Smith short of the career high 578 plate appearances he got in 2022 when he did get a lot of time at DH. So that'll be something to monitor in the offseason. But I feel like there's long been this belief that Will Smith has another gear he hasn't quite achieved yet. like we're waiting for him to revolutionize the catcher position and become this generation's Mike Piazza or whatever.

Maybe not that high end, but you get what I'm saying. He's 29, you know? I think 260 hitter with 20 to 25 Homer Pop, I think that's just who he is. Yeah. And again, there are a lot of catchers who I feel like can do that now. If he's not going to get that at bad advantage, DH, I don't know that Will Smith is necessarily worth paying up for either.

All right, the number five catcher from this past season, Cal Raleigh, he finished 118th overall in Roto. He was the fourth best catcher in head-to-head points leagues. Also in the prime of his career turns 27 years old in November. He wound up hitting 232 with 30 home runs, 78 runs scored 75 RBI. And the playing time was also huge for Cal Raleigh. 145 games were second most.

at the position, 569 plate appearances were fourth most. 30 home runs very clearly led all catchers. He has 57 home runs over the past two years, by far the most. Salvador Perez is next up at 46 home runs. Scott, Cal Raleigh made legitimate

improvements this past season. I mean, the overall story here is he's, you know what you're going to get. It's a low batting average, but a lot of home runs and pretty good counting stats for a catcher. Yeah, he improved just enough in the areas that were most dragging down his batting average so that the batting

average was able to be respectable. He ended up hitting 232 compared to 211 last year. You'll take 32, 232 from the player who is maybe the best power hitter at the position. The strikeout rate improved from 29.4% to 27.8. So still bad but better. The fly ball rate became not quite as extreme as it was last year, still pretty high. That's how he gets the power. So you don't necessarily want him to go too far the other way, but I think he kind of optimized his profile in 2023, which on the one hand, you could be like, okay, well, there's only one way to go and it's down from here.

But on the other hand, he kind of bolstered his standing in fantasy as, okay, we didn't, we didn't know if he could even follow up on his brain. breakout 2022 season, much less improve on it. And now I think we trust that Cowell Raleigh is in it for the long haul as a viable fantasy option behind the plate. I know it sounds weird, but I feel like he might be a better points league target just because of the volume, right? Obviously, the strikeouts, you lose points for those.

But I just can't really see myself targeting a catcher. Maybe he won't go that early. But in a roto league where he drags down the batting average that much, I just don't know if I would target a catcher like that. But in a points league, you don't really care about the batting average. It's just what are the overall points. And this past season, he was good. He was, you know, the fourth best catcher in head-to-head points.

So I don't know. That's kind of like my early take on Cal Raleigh, I suppose. Let's take our first break. When we return, we'll get into the rest of the top 10 catchers from this past season. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back into fantasy baseball today. And let's continue on. The number six catcher from this past season was Jonah Heim.

He finished 100. 33rd overall in Roto. He was also the sixth best catcher in head to head points leagues. Broke out in a big way, hit 258 with 18 home runs, 95 RBI, which led the position by far, Salvador Perez and Adley Rutsman were both tied for second with 80 RBI. Jonah Hyme missed some time with a strained tendon in his left wrist and actually struggled quite a bit after returning. Before the injury, he was hitting 280 with 14 home runs and an 816 OPS. I just don't really see like a standout skill here, Sky. I mean, there's not like he hits the ball extremely hard or anything.

I mean, the expected numbers were okay. I think he really just benefited from hitting in the middle of a really, really good lineup this year. Yeah, of all the catchers we've talked about so far, Jonah Heim is the one who I'm downgrading the most for next year. And maybe the Rangers lineup will be just as amazing as it was this year. but that does seem to be like the strength for Jonah Heim. And skills-wise, as you point out, there's nothing that really stands out there. And he crashed pretty hard at the end of the season.

Now he was playing through the wrist injury, the tendon sheath in his wrist, that they're now saying won't require surgery. So how much had it already healed by the time he came back, how much more can it heal in the offseason? How much does the decline at the end of the season? How much of it is explained by the injury and how much of it was just natural regression? I think these are all fair questions.

Because let's see, heading into the All-Star break, he was batting 282. And you mentioned he finished batting 258. I think, you know, expected batting average for the year 254. you know, that first half did a lot of the heavy lifting for Jonah Haim. And I just don't know that he has the skills to live up to those first half numbers again, the second half, or at least the overall numbers, might be the best we can expect from him. Moving forward.

And yeah, a lot of it's going to depend on what the lineup around him does, what he does with his spot in that lineup. All right. The number seven catcher was south. Salvador Perez, who finished 155th overall in Roto. He was the 10th best catcher in head-to-head points leagues and turns 34 years old next May in the middle of the season. Wound up hitting 255, 23 homers, 80 RBI, 714 OPS.

On paper, it looks like a solid season, but there were points where Salvador Perez was borderline unusable. And maybe that was because of so many injuries he played through. He had blurred vision, a bruised left hand, a foot. injury, strained left hamstring, neck tightness. He suffered a concussion in September, which ended his season. But if you look at the OPS from June through August, 523 in June, 618 in July, 632 in August. I mean, this was really, really bad stuff. And turning 34 years old next year, Scott, unless we get a pretty big discount on Salvador Perez, I kind of feel like this is

just the, you know, the start of the end for him. I think we are going to get a pretty big discount. It kind of depends what you mean by that. I have him 10th among catchers for next year. So, I mean, still one spot ahead of Jonah Heim. Would you rather have Heim or would you rather have Salvador Perez? Probably Neat-Rke reaction. I think Perez.

Yeah. Okay, that's what I was thinking too. What his numbers have looked like the past two years, and I know there have been a lot of injuries along the way that, coming off 2022 we were giving him a pass for maybe less so now but what the numbers actually look like

from the past two years are basically who he was prior to the short in 2020 season meaning good home run and RBI production for a catcher but really not much out there

middling batting average he's not going to score many runs as a low OBP guy and a bad lineup just kind of helpful in those two categories and not much else. And that 2021 season, really it started 2022, the shortened season.

But those, that two-year period looks like an outlier for Salvador Perez where he found another level that made him a stud in fantasy. But for most of his career, he's been just kind of this two-category specialist at the position. And so that's how I'm treating him moving forward with one caveat, and that is, when he was like this previously pre-2020 for Salvador Perez, he was a playing time standout at the position. He logged so many more bats than most every other catcher,

and that helped to set him apart further. I don't think he's there anymore. He played only 91 games at catcher this year. That number's been going down over the years. A lot of his playing time this year came at first base, got 23 games at first base, 21 starts at first base. If any past Guantino is going to be back next year. True.

I don't know how available those of bats are going to be for Salvador Perez, but it doesn't seem like they want him behind the plate as much as they used to. Now, you could spend some time at DH, but there are fewer avenues to playing time for Salvador Perez probably next year than there were this year. And given the stage of his career he's in, I don't know that they're, I don't know that they're going to let him take off every opportunity he can to be in the lineup.

Yeah, I think that's fair. I kind of had the opposite take, Scott, because considering all the injuries that Salvador Perez kind of played through, he still finished with 140 games played, right? Like, that's pretty impressive, considering, you know, everything he dealt with. Again, he's not going to have first base available,

as you mentioned, but I don't know, like they're DH right now, according to roster resources, is Edward Olivares. I think Salvador Perez could get like a good amount of starts there next season. So I don't know. I think in terms of playing time, he's probably still fine. It's just, yeah, the production is not great.

That's not the right way to phrase it because you're right. I mean, he's kind of the player he was before this, like that random two-year breakout for him. So he's fine. Yeah. He's fine. And like he could what you're saying with the at-bats. Like, okay, they found the at-bats firm this year. I'm just wondering how much longer that's going to be true.

And now it happened, he's been taken away, like I said. So I don't know. We'll see. We'll see what they do in the off-season. I mean, they might bring in a bat or two, and that'll make it clearer. I was going to joke and say, well, we know they're not going to sign anybody because the royals don't really spend money. But he's also, his name has been floated out there in trade rumors, too.

So I guess that's a possibility. So, we'll see on Salvador Press. The number eight catcher this past season was Wilson Kittreras. He finished 164th overall in Roto. The eighth best catcher in head-to-head points leagues. Also kind of getting up there in age, I hadn't realized he turns 32 years old next season in the month of May. He wound up hitting 264 with 20 home runs, 67 RBI, six steals, and an 826 OPS. You basically have to factor in that Wilson Kutreras is going to miss sometime, at least one IL stint throughout the course of the season.

that's basically been the case each of the past three years. And it's kind of a tale of two seasons. His first half was very disappointing and then a massive second half where Wilson Contreras hit 309, 10 home runs, a 959 OPS with a 13% barrel rate.

That's kind of who he has got. I mean, he's been very streaky over the past couple of years. Statcast numbers are still awesome. I don't know. I still kind of like Wilson Contreras. Like if he is going outside the top 100, I can see

kind of targeting him as my first catcher in a two-catcher league, something like that. Yeah, I think that's fine. He is on the lower end for me of that group of catchers that I think are pretty similar. And just like his brother, William Contreras, is elevated by playing time. Wilson Contreras is, what's the opposite of elevated? He's moved down because of playing time. That's the biggest distinction between the two Contreras brothers. I mean, by the stat cast readings, you pointed out there are great for Wilson.

They're actually better than Williams' stat cast readings. But William is the one playing virtually every day while Wilson, and I know there was an IL stint in there. But, you know, he was sitting every third or fourth game most of the year. And to give you some idea the difference that made, 55 runs 67 RBI for Wilson. For William, it was 86 run 7. 78 RBI. So big difference just in those two categories, even if percentage-wise,

Wilson is just as good. Yeah. No, that is a great point. And I don't think it's going to change, really, for the Cardinals. They have this, you know, log jam of like Jordan Walker and Lars Neupar and Brendan Donovan. And they just have a bunch of names that they have to fit into the lineup. So I don't think that's really going to change for Wilson Contreras next season either. The number nine catcher was Dalton Varsho, but he no longer has catcher eligibility. So we'll skip him for now. And then number 10 was Sean Murphy, who I know you guys spoke about quite a bit last week. The overall number is 251, 21 home runs, 68 RBI and 844 OPS. But as you pointed out last week, a tale of two seasons. The first half, Sean Murphy hit 306 with a 99 OPS. And then in the second

half, 159 with a 585 OPS, his ground ball rate went up. His home run to fly ball ratio plummeted. His average exit velocity also plummeted, maybe playing through an injury, maybe a concussion. I know he got like hitting the head with the bat a few times. That was kind of a weird thing that happened for him. I still think there's a chance we can get like that true massive breakout season from Sean Murphy if he just kind of puts it together for a whole year. Yeah, I mean the stat cast reading.

for the whole season. These aren't just from the first half for the whole season. They're incredible. They really are. 81st percentile expected batting average, 95th percentile X-slug, that's 272 and 533 respectively.

Eggs of velocity readings are awesome. Like, he looks like a, if you just looked at the amount of red on Sean Murphy's stack cast page, you'd say this guy is a total stud, maybe the number one catcher in fantasy. But then the actual numbers, and they ended up being a bit of a letdown.

They're not so different from the Contreras brothers and Will Smith because that first half was so good, but they're a little worse and obviously don't live up to what Stacass says Sean Murphy should be. So I'm finding him difficult to rank for next year, and we'll get into that later in the podcast, I know, but as of this moment I'm looking at it, I'm like, do I really want him that high? I think what happened to him in the second half,

and maybe it was injury related is, I don't think that was the true Sean Murphy. I think something was messed up with him and the hope is that between the off season, between next spring, he'll figure it out, he'll get right, he'll begin to perform up to those stack cast readings again.

But then there's that other variable there. And that's that manager, Brian Snickr, really seems to like Travis Darno a lot. Now, Darno's going to be 35 next year. So at some point, he's got to fade into the background, especially when Sean Murphy's as talented as he is. But you can't count on Sean,

well, while Darneau is still there, you can't count on Sean Murphy to get the regular bat allotment that most of these other catchers we've talked about will get. So that's another mark against him, in addition to just the unpredictability. So very, very difficult to know what to make of Sean Murphy at this point.

He might be the most talented catcher in baseball. I mean, do I want to say that over Adley Rushman even? I don't know. He's definitely up there. It's a clear top three, let's say, in terms of pure catching talent between Rushman, Rio Muto, and Sean Murphy. But Murphy's clearly got the biggest worries of the three. Yeah, if you look at a per game basis, right, head to head points per game, Sean Murphy three fantasy points, and that was tied for second with Adley Ruchman. So he was really good when he played. It's just we need more volume and as of now, I don't know we could say for certain that's going to happen. He's not going to get any games at DH either, as long as Marcel Ozuna is there.

Is Eddie Rosario still under contract, Scott? He has a team option. Well, I don't think they want to play Ozuna in the outfield anyway, so he's probably just a DH only at this point. I would think so. Yeah, I think they'd be if they let Rosario go, which sounds like a possibility. I don't know, 9 million isn't that much, but sounds like a possibility. I think like Vaughn Grissom would be more likely to play left field than Marcelo Zuna. Yeah, yeah, and that sounds about right to me.

So really great on a per game basis, but man, we just need Sean Murphy to get more playing time. And then potentially we get that huge, huge breakout season that we saw in the first half this past year. Let's run through some playoff updates. I got some news and notes as well that we can get to. And we talked about it a little bit already. But since you guys last recorded, each of the Rangers, Astros, D-backs, and Phillies advanced to the championship series. The Braves lost 3 to 1.

The Dodgers got swept, crazy stuff. The Orioles got swept. I saw someone in the YouTube chat talking about Bochy Mania, which that guy just knows how to work his magic. Bruce Bochy and the Texas Rangers got it going on right now. And of course, the Astros did beat the Twins 3 to 1.

Speaking of those Rangers, they took a commanding two-zip lead here on Monday night. In game one, Jordan Montgomery was awesome. Once again, you look at his last 7th, starts dating back to the regular season. He has a 122 ERA and Nathan Avaldi. Boom, postseason starts. He's just back to like the awesome Nathan Avaldi we saw in the first half. He's got three quality starts in the playoffs so far. The Rangers jumped all over for Amber Valdez who had an awful

second half too. So I don't know. This is just adding more question marks to his ranking for next season as well. Any thoughts on the Rangers and Astros? Yeah. I mean, No. I don't know. Obviously, the Nathan Avaldi thing is notable because we weren't sure whether he had anything left. He came back from his injury and the velocity was still down. He was getting crushed. I mentioned last week that Lance Brozdowski mentioned on Twitter. He pointed out on Twitter that it seems like he made a mechanical change at the very end of the regular season that he's carried over into the playoffs, lower release point. He's getting the velocity back up again. so Ovaldi does appear to be fixed. I don't know how far are, how much we're going to trust him based on that going into next season. I mean, how much can you trust any pitcher? I think he'll definitively be part of the glob.

But how far up that glob should Nathan Avaldi be? I think we're still trying to figure that out. On the other hand, Framber Valdez keeps getting crushed. Between the two, I still would say, okay, I'd rather have Framber Valdez, but he seems like he belongs in the glob too. Not totally sure what to make of that, because I know the cutter that's kind of come and gone for him this year.

It's, he's throwing it still. The velocity's way up on it, so is it even the same pitch anymore? I don't know. But it's hard to know what to make of what's going on with Fromber Valdez, not just in the playoffs, but in late in September too. And it's hard to know what to expect from Max Scherzer, who will actually be starting for the Rangers, in game three going up against Christian Javier.

So interesting times. I think his latest bullpen or whatever simulated game, he got up to 60 pitches. So I don't know. We haven't seen Max Scherzer in like five or six weeks. We'll be very, very interesting in that game three. Speaking of the championship series, the Phillies jumped all over Zach Gallen in game one there.

They hit three home runs, one from each of Kyle Schwerber, Bryce Harper, Nick Castellanos. I saw this tweet from, Sarah Lange, Nick Castiano is just the second player with five home runs in a three-game postseason span joining Reggie Jackson. So, you know, only something two players have done. Nick Castellanos is red hot right now. Nick Castellanos became the first player to have back-to-back multi-homer games in the postseason. Yeah. Which I feel like didn't get enough attention when it happened.

Yep. It was on quite the run. Really is. And then Zach Wheeler continues his dominance. this postseason. Three straight quality starts. 237, ERA, 26 strikeouts, over 19 innings pitched. I don't want to react too much to a small sample size, but, and I kind of alluded to this a little bit.

I know trying to decipher who that SP3 is going to be in the rankings is kind of tough. I kind of lean towards Zach Wheeler right now, Scott. I just think in terms of floor and ceiling what we've seen in the past like two to three seasons from Zach Wheeler, he's been so reliable.

So that's the way I'm leaning right now. Okay. I mean, he seems as good a choice as any. It kind of, it feels kind of random to me, but I think whoever I end up picking as my third rank starting pitcher will also feel random. You know how I'm leaning toward, I think I'm leaning toward Kevin Gosman. That's fair. Because he has so much strikeout upside from start to start. But, I mean, Wheeler is, you're right, he has a high floor. Now, I kind of feel like I designed the top. of my starting pitcher rankings around floors, and it didn't go so well this year. But it's going to be the toughest position to sort out. And I probably will not take whoever is actually the third starting pitcher drafted because I won't believe in him that much more than the ninth starting

pitcher drafted, whoever it is. All right. Some quick news and notes. And this one took a turn for the worst. I heard you guys talk about Brandon Woodruff last week. He underwent surgery on Friday. to repair the anterior capsule in his right shoulder. And now the Brewers expect him to miss most, if not all, of 2024.

So there goes another potential top 12 starting picture. Yeah, whoever's ninth, it won't be Brandon Woodruff. Oh, gosh. Yeah, it was, this is more how I expected it to go when I knew he needed surgery to correct this. But then they were saying just last week, they're optimistic he'll be ready for opening day in 2024. for. Now, opening day 2025 is what it sounds like for Brandon Woodruff, which also

raises concerns, I think, about his dynasty value because this is not the most straightforward procedure. Like, it doesn't have the tracker good like Tommy John surgery, for instance. So I'd be a little worried about that too.

Not as worried as I am for Kyle Wright, who's under... Wait, what is it? It's the... Is it the same thing? Is it the same thing? Is it the... I can't Kyle Wright has holes in his capsule in his right shoulder and it's a capsule surgery for Woodruff too, right? Yeah, I don't know if it's exactly the same thing because, and again, I'm not a doctor. There's probably different capsules in your shoulder. I could be completely making.

Interior capsule for Woodruff. They just really focus on the word holes. Perforations is how one site puts it for Kyle Wright. Uh, yeah. Perforations doesn't sound so bad. It sounds like paper towels. Well, I guess the overarching theme here is it sounds like Kyle Wright is going to miss all of next season as well. So yeah, we've already got potentially two starting pitchers off the board for next season. Orioles GM Mike Elias said last week that Jackson Holiday will be in Major League camp next spring with a chance to make the opening day roster. Arguably the number one prospect in all of baseball holiday hit 323 with a 442 OPS, 12 home

MERS, 24 steals, a 941 OPS as a 19-year-old across four different levels. And I mentioned those two drafts already completed at NFBC. Jackson Hollidays, ADP is 230. But if we get any inclination here, Scott, or idea that Jackson Holiday is going to be on the opening day roster, it's, you know. Going up, baby. Same thing. It's going to be the same thing as Jordan Walker and Volpe from last year.

You're going to love to see where I have Jackson Holiday ranked at shortstop for next year. already. Very interesting. Very interesting. Speaking of the Jackson's, Brewers' top prospect, Jackson, Churio, on the other hand, will open the season,

the 2024 season with AAA. We'll see if that actually holds. GM, Matt Arnold, had this to say, quote, it's hard to put a timetable on it for a 19-year-old, but he has a chance to be really special. Duh. I don't know if this is going to hold true.

If Jackson Trio has a monster spring training, are they really going to hold them back with the opportunity to get an extra draft pick compensation. I don't believe that. So we'll see what happens. That is not, since the rule change took effect with the new CBA last season, it seems like GMs have prioritized the chance of that extra draft pick over the extra year of team control that they used to prioritize.

So yeah, if Jackson Chorio has the sort of spring that shows he's going to be up sooner than later, then the incentive seems to be to have him on the opening day roster, but doesn't necessarily mean they'll make that decision. I think obviously the Cardinals regretted making that decision with Jordan Walker since he ended up not yet. The player has to spend the whole season on the roster for that draft pick compensation to come into play. So it's, I don't know if I exactly believe what Matt Arnold is saying either, but ultimately it's his decision. All right. Some other quick notes. Late season sleeper Michael King will remain in the Yankees starting rotation entering next season.

He mentioned 150 plus innings as a potential target workload for next year. Byron Buxden under went an arthroscopic procedure on his right knee, and he has not played 100 games since 2017. He's done that only once in his nine-year career. Alex Kirolov

will undergo surgery later this month to repair the labrum in his left shoulder. He was solid when he played this year, but this seems to be a constant theme so far in Alex Kirolov's career as well. The good news is that it's not the wrist, but now it's a shoulder. And in actual baseball news, this was kind of caught me off guard.

Maybe the same for you, Scott. Kim Ang and the Marlins have parted ways. And according to a report from Jeff Passing, the Marlins plan to hire a president of baseball operations this offseason who would work above Kim Ang as the team's top baseball executive, which is kind of odd to me because the Marlins just won 84 games. They went to the playoffs. For the first time in an actual full-lane season in a while,

and she made some savvy moves. She acquired Jake Berger. She acquired Josh Bell. I don't know. I thought she did a pretty admirable job. So I don't know. Kind of weird. Yeah, I'm not really sure what to make of any of that.

We'll see if she's some other team's GM next year. There are several openings. I know Alex Anthopoulos left the Blue Jays kind of unexpectedly after, you know, getting them into the playoffs and left most. mostly on his own terms, it seemed like, and then had to spend a few years assisting in the Dodgers organization before he got his chance with the Braves.

So we'll see if Kim Ang goes that path or if she jumps right back in somewhere else, which is certainly a possibility. All right, let's take our final break. When we return, a little sneak peek. Scott's early 2024 catcher rankings, we'll talk about it right after this. Way too early, 24 catcher rankings

and the top five, I don't think we'll surprise anybody. They're all names that we've talked about so far. Number one is Adley Rushman, followed by J.T. Realimuto, William Contreras, Will Smith, Sean Murphy. We talked about all these players, Scott. Is there anything you'd like to add about, I don't know, maybe this is being a big old tier or I guess trying to sort through it? Well, if we're going to do the tier thing,

I guess Rushman Real Muto, William Contreras, Will Smith. I'm not exactly sure where to talk. draw the line, if Rushman and Real Muto should be their own tier. In Points Leagues, I would not have Real Muto second, by the way. I would have William Contreras ahead of him. It's mostly the Steele's thing elevating Real Muto in Categories leagues. I think realistically, I'm not going to draft any of these guys, so it's hard for me to get animated about where the tiers are distinguished.

Obviously, I'll have to at some point. but I'm not particularly motivated to at this point. I guess the most questionable of these five, and again, it's Rushman, Real Muto, William Contreras, Will Smith, and Sean Murphy is does Sean Murphy belong as high as fifth? I don't know. What is your leaning as far as that goes?

Does it seem too high to you? My early lean is, no, it is not too early. Yes, he deserves to be that high. For all the reasons we mentioned, I mean, he was amazing this year. The stat-cast data is there, and he's in the prime of his career, and he's part of one of, if not the best lineup at all, baseball. So, I mean, you could easily talk yourself into it.

If we get some more details this off-season that he was playing through something in the second half, that would explain why Sean Murphy was as bad as he was. And I loved him last year. And, you know, if he's being drafted as like the fifth catcher next season, then I'm probably going to be in on Sean Murphy once again. Very early indications is that he won't be drafted as high. his fifth. He'll be drafted lower than that. Yeah. Let's see here. One, two, three, four. And then, yeah, he was the fifth catcher drafted an 80p so far from his two drafts. But it was, it was pretty late. It was like a hundred. By early indications, I mean sentiments on Twitter, I guess. Gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah. All right. Well, let's go. Sean Murphy. I'm in. I'm back in. Six through 10 in the catcher rankings. A name we have not spoke about yet. Yiner. DeV. of the Houston Astros, followed by Cal Raleigh, Wilson Contreras, Mitch Garver of the

Blank, he's a free agent this offseason, and Salvador Perez, Yiner Diaz, this past season, hit 282 with 23 home runs and 846 OPS, which was third best among catchers with at least 300 plate appearances. He just turned 25 years old. He marries this blend of hit tool and power together. Part of a great lineup. Martin Maldonado is a free agent this offseason. Oh, I mean, the sky is the limit here, for Yainer Diaz. Yeah, I mean, Yiner Diaz, at least as far as the offensive attributes go, his stat cast page looks about like Sean Murphy's. All that red, expected batting average of 287.

Wow. Expected slug of 546. And, you know, he has the minor league track record to back it up. when we did see him playing consistency consistently for the Astros this year he seemed to back it up then too was very productive in fantasy well I mean even looking at the

defensive matrix not a great not defensive matrix defensive metrics not a good framer is Yiner Diaz but he's good at throwing out runners and he's a better framer than Martin Maldonado is it's a head scratcher why Maldonado

got run over him behind that's a weird way to put that it was why catch why martin maldonado got prioritized behind the plate because clearly not the same standards offensively and at least the stack has readings would suggest not as good as a defender either apparently they just the pitching staff felt really comfortable with him is the line out of Houston he is a free agent maldonado is as you point out frank and well it would it's easy to see them bringing him back because I doubt there's going to be much competition for his services. I wonder if the Astros will let him go just so Dusty Baker can't choose to play him over Yiner Diaz.

By ranking Diaz 6th, I'm kind of presuming Maldonado is gone. So if it turns out he's not, I'm going to have to move Yiner Diaz down. But this is a fun group, this group of five. Basically, to explain my rankings here, so go back to the last group. Adelaidey Rushman, J.C.B.com, pretty easy to put those score at the top, given their track records. Sean Murphy is where it gets really hard to rank them. And then it continues here with Yiner Diaz at 6, Cal Raleigh, 7th, Wilson Catreras, 8th, Mitch Garver, 9th, and Salvador Perez 10th. Like, very, very unsure of myself.

very unsure of the order here, particularly since we don't know exactly what playing time's going to look like for Yiner Diaz and Mitch Garver yet. Yeah, Mitch Garver, as we mentioned, a free agent this offseason and he turns 33 years old in January. That didn't matter this year. The guy is a legit good hitter. I mean, whenever he's been healthy, he has an 825 career OPS. It's just, is Mitch Garver going to wind up on a team where he could DH often as much as he did with Texas? you know, he was basically their everyday DH. So questions abound for Mitch Garver. Yeah, I mean, certainly down the stretch he was, obviously got enough games at catcher that he retains eligibility there.

I'm trying to see exactly how many games he started. He sat out something like two games in the last two months. So he had a huge playing time advantage for a catcher eligible player while he was the full-time DH. And I presume getting that much time at DH allowed him. to stay healthier too. And we saw Mitch Garver be what he should have always been if there weren't those interruptions to playing time, both health and, you know, just the fact he was sharing the

role with another catcher. So optimally, the Rangers would bring him back as their primary DH again. But, you know, maybe some other team wants to play him more, pay him more. And maybe that means catching more, which wouldn't necessarily. be great for Mitch Garver's fantasy value. 11 through 15 in the catcher rankings, Jonah Heim, Francisco Alvarez, Logan O'Hoppy, Bo Nailer, and Cabr Ruiz.

Scott, this is such a fun group. I mean, you've got young, high-upside catchers here. Francisco Alvarez just hit 25 home runs as a rookie, but incredibly shrieky. If you look at his OPS by month, it's all over the place. Randomly struggled against lefties, which was not an issue for him in the minor.

So I think he will be much. better next season. Logan O'Hoppy hit 14 home runs in just 51 games. That is a 32 homer pace over 120 games. So I don't know if he's going to maintain that kind of pace, but he hits the ball extremely hard. The expected numbers are awesome. Bow Nailer. He gives you some power, some speed. He finished the season incredibly strong. His final 28 games. He hit 321 with seven homers, four steals, and 1113 OPS. And Caber Ruiz, he really kind of quietly put it to together this year. He had 260. He had 18 home runs, 67 RBI, and makes a boatload of contact. I love this group, Scott. It continues how difficult catcher is to rank. I think it starts with

Sean Murphy at number five and continues here through number 15 with Keeper Ruiz, and maybe goes even a little beyond that. I know when I first showed these rankings to you, you were surprised I had Francisco Alvarez as low as 12th. I think you were saying he could go sixth or seventh at the position. I don't necessarily disagree. It's just going to depend what people prioritize. My feeling is, I got the impression that people were down on Francisco Alvarez because of how much he struggled down the stretch for the Mets.

But he did show a lot of power. He has top prospect pedigree, and there's a good chance he takes a step forward next year. Maybe people want to buy into that upside for him. I think the low-key exciting one here is Bo Nailer. who does bring that element of speed that's so rare at catcher. I think he's the one who could challenge J.T. Real Muto

as the preeminent base dealer at the position, and also incredibly disciplined hitter. Doesn't strike out much at all, so that helps elevate Bo Naler all the more in points leagues. And, you know, he struggled to get consistent playing time for the Guardians when he first got called up. But in the final month, He hit 304 with four homers, four steals at 1052 OPS,

really seemed to find his footing, get comfortable at the major league level. I think I'd be fine with Bo Naler as my starter going into next year and a one catcher league. And here I am ranking him 14th. And I think it continues on with this next group, as you kind of alluded to, 16 through 20 at the catcher position, Gabriel Moreno, Luis Camp Usono, Shea Langelliers, Tyler Stevenson, and Austin Welles.

specifically the two names at the top here, Gabriel Moreno hit 284 with seven home runs, six steals in 111 games, and after he returned from injury, he played incredibly well. He's hit a couple of home runs here in the postseason, and it's just, if he could just raise the launch angle, I mean, I think the upside could be massive for him.

Luis Camp Usano, please, Padres, please, I am begging you. Just unleash this guy. Let him play 120 plus games, because look at what he just did, 847 OPS, 319 batting average in just 49 games here. He's entering his age 25 season. Gary Sanchez is a free agent.

I mean, if they just let him play every day, Scott, I think there's really big upside for, honestly, a few of these names, but specifically Moreno and Campesano as well. Yeah, and that's where I see the cutoff in terms of, I'd be happy with the guy as my starting catcher versus I wouldn't be happy with him. I don't know if it's after Gabriel,

Moreno at 16, it may be after Luis Campusano at 17, depending on what the Padres decide to do at catcher going into next year. If they say Campesano's our guy, okay, I'm happy with Camposano as a starter two. And that's 17 options at Catcher that I feel almost equally good about. You know, I'm not saying Campesanos belongs in the same tier as Adley Rushman, but I'm saying for the difference in price, I might rather have Campiussano. or Gabriel Moreno or whoever goes last to this group, Giba Ruiz, Bonhealer. I think they could end up being top ten options at the position, if not better.

I think they have that kind of upside. And I think in a one catcher league, if you miss on them, then it's pretty easy to swap them out for a hot hand at the position. So I don't know that that catcher is shaping up to be a position I'm going to invest heavily in. obviously two catcher leagues it changes the depth at the position but still you're talking about 17 options that i feel good about having as a starter so i don't know that i don't know that you need to go be that much more aggressive about drafting a catcher in that format either um the last three here shay langalears tyler stevenson austin wells i mean at least langilliers and stevenson

in a two catcher league is your second catcher you're not going to mind that so much there is some upside there. I don't think they can grow into as much as the 17 ahead of them, but I think they have strengths and they're not going to

they're not going to kill you as a second catcher. Wells, Austin Wells, rounding out the top 20 here for the Yankees. He showed some signs in September. They seem to play him a lot behind the plan.

I don't know if that's necessarily. Sorry, I'm garbling my words here. They seem to play him a lot behind the plate in September. I don't know if that's necessarily the plan going into next year or if it was just might as well use them. We're out of it and see how it goes. But a swing is well suited for Yankee Stadium

and so I think there's upside here with Austin Wells. He's kind of like just the if you're wanting a lottery ticket late in a two-catcher league. Austin Wells is kind of the choice for me. But there are other ways I could have gone with number 20, a catcher if I had decided not to go with the lottery ticket. All right. We're going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank.

Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again on Thursday. Bye-bye.