RealGM Analysis
Tier 1: Buster Posey
Tier 2: Jonathan Lucroy, Carlos Santana, Devin Mesoraco, Yan Gomes, Salvador Perez, Evan Gattis, Yadier Molina
Tier 3: Brian McCann, Matt Wieters, Wilin Rosario, Wilson Ramos, Russell Martin
Tier 4: Mike Zunino, Miguel Montero, Yasmani Grandal, Travis d’Arnaud, Jason Castro, Derek Norris
* Note: Players in bold are my picks to outperform their ADPs.
Not to sound repetitive with my catcher write-ups from prior seasons, but Buster Posey once again stands alone at the top. I toyed with leaving tier 2 vacant and moving each group down a tier, but ultimately decided against this. Instead, just note that the gap between Posey and the tier 2 group remains quite large.
With all this said, I recommend that you let another manager draft Posey and instead select a catcher towards the end of your draft – a tier 3 or 4 catcher will suffice.
My reasons for this strategy:
1) catchers face the greatest injury risk of all the position players, so your ROI faces greater risk
2) catchers sit for 20 plus games each year, so that reduces the impact they make proportionally compared to other position players
3) catchers tend to have the most variance statistically from year to year compared to other position players
4) setting Posey aside, the difference in value provided by the tier 2 group won’t vary too much from the tier 3 or 4 group.
Posey will most likely be drafted too early in leagues, hence I recommend waiting until the dust settles and then grabbing a solid option from tier 3 or 4. Also, nothing wrong with the strategy of swapping catchers throughout the season based on which players have the hot hand.
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