RADIO
It's your resident catcher advocate here, with my weekly defense for baseball's most maligned position. Instead of giving into easy narratives about the lack of talent at the catcher position and how they're the kickers of fantasy baseball, I'm here to create a place where catchers are celebrated for how they can help our teams.
Each week, I will take a look at the upcoming schedule ahead and give you my favorite streaming options at catcher. By looking at lineup trends, amount of games ahead, the location of the games, and potential pitching matchups, I'll try to guide you towards catchers that I think can be most useful for you in the upcoming week. For each catcher listed, I'll also add a chart that will provide you with data about the potential opposing pitchers that I think are meaningful in terms of allowing potential fantasy production. Plus, I'll also give a short explanation about why this catcher made the list. Every week I'll also look back at my previous recommendations so that we can have some transparency about what's working or not.
Since many fantasy managers will pay no attention to the catcher spot, your ability to constantly look for the best matchups will be a good way to get an advantage over your competition.
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Last Week Check-In
This is actually from Week 15 since we took last week off for the All-Star break
- Mike Zunino (4 starts) 2-15, 1 HR, 3 Runs, 2 RBI (Loss - just not enough power)
- Tyler Stephenson (4 starts) 7-20, 3 Runs (WIN - not great but the average helps)
- Max Stassi (4 starts) 4-15, 1 HR, 3 Runs, 2 RBI (WIN - As a streamer, this is actually good enough)
- Eric Haase (5 starts) 5-29, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 4 Runs (WIN - solid accumulation helps poor average)
- Reese McGuire (2 starts) 1-8 (LOSS - Surprised they went so heavily with Danny Jansen)
SEASON STREAMING RECORD: 37-31
All matchup projections are made in conjunction with Roster Resource
Week Seventeen Catcher Waiver Wire (7/19 - 7/25)
For the purposes of this article, we are considering a "streaming catcher" one who is rostered in under 50% of Yahoo! leagues. Whether or not these catchers will be useful for you will depend entirely on your league size and the number of catchers you need to play. In order to help, I will keep a weekly list of "Untouchables," meaning catchers who, in my opinion, should NOT (if healthy) be dropped for a streaming option.
Untouchables: Catchers who shouldn't be dropped for these streamers in any format: J.T. Realmuto, Salvador Perez, Yasmani Grandal, Willson Contreras, Will Smith, Christian Vazquez, and Buster Posey.
Tyler Stephenson, Cincinnati Reds
21% Rostered
Unfortunately, as the Reds start to get healthy again, it leads to fewer starts for Stephenson, who was on the bench for two of the last three Reds games heading into the All-Star break. However, when he is on the field, Stephenson continues to produce with a .353 average in the two weeks leading into the break. He has also begun hitting fifth in the lineup instead of third or fourth, which isn't necessarily a bad spot, but the further down he would continue to drop, the more his counting stats would suffer.
Still, for the time being, he's worth rostering given the Reds' seven-game schedule next week, which should see him get at least four starts against a tremendously favorable schedule. Marcus Stroman and Tylor Megill are the two best arms he'll face, but Stroman has been less effective of late and might still be battling a hip injury. Megill has an intriguing mix of pitches, but he's a rookie with not a tremendous pedigree so we have no idea if or when the bubble might burst. Plus, as an added bonus, Stephenson will play all of his games at home in a tremendous hitting environment.
Max Stassi, Los Angeles Angels
26% Rostered
Max Stassi has cooled a bit of late, but he's still producing solid numbers with a .286/.375/.429 triple-slash in the two weeks heading into the break. Over that time he also has one home run, six runs, and four RBIs, so he's producing, albeit minimally across all categories. Considering his walk rate continues to be over 12% during that span, and he's still hitting the ball hard, he's one of my favorite low-rostered catchers to roll out there.
He also gets a pretty favorable schedule outside of a matchup with Jose Berrios. I know there is a fair amount of red in those first two Oakland starts, but I'm not a big believer in the longevity of James Kaprielian and Cole Irvin and think, especially, that the left-handed Irvin may be a nice matchup for Stassi, as is J.A. Happ.
Jake Rogers, Detroit Tigers
1% Rostered
Eric Haase may have graduated from streamer status, but we can still roster a Tigers catcher with Rogers. Since Haase spends most of his time at DH, the two of them are often in the lineup together, and Rogers has only started one fewer game than Haase over the two weeks prior to the All-Star break. Over that span, Rogers is hitting .276 with an impressive .655 slugging percentage to go along with three home runs, seven runs, and eight RBIs.
I know the schedule he gets doesn't appear conducive to home runs, but much of the Texas stats are impacted by their pitching-friendly home stadium. The only pitcher I'm really worried about there is Kyle Gibson, who has been successful at reducing hard contact. Danny Duffy's line is still showing a lot of red, but he hasn't been the same pitcher since he came off the IL with his velocity down and his effectiveness plummeting. On top of that, Rogers will get three left-handers that he can attack this week with Duffy, Mike Minor, and Kolby Allard.
John Hicks, Texas Rangers
6% Rostered
Hicks was on fire heading into the All-Star break, finishing third overall among catchers in wRC+ in the two weeks prior to the break. Over that span, he hit .304 with four home runs, six runs, six RBI, and a .826 slugging percentage. He also had a 26.1% strikeout rate and zero walks, but that's the nature of his profile. Just with a player like Eric Haase, when power hitters start to get hot, we want to ride the streak until the wheels inevitably fall off. Who knows if Hicks will stay hot coming out of the break, but four games against the Tigers is a good way to find out.
He begins with a series against Jose Urena, Tyler Alexander, and Matt Manning, plus a game against Tarik Skubal, who has been striking out a ton of hitters lately but still has a bit of a problem with the home run ball. The three games against the Astros provide a bit less optimism, but I'm not a massive believer in Jake Odorizzi and Framber Valdez is a left-handed pitcher who's given up his fair share of home runs this year, so maybe Hicks runs into one. I wouldn't be rostering him in many leagues, but he's worth a shot in two catcher leagues.
For Your Consideration...
If you're looking beyond this week, I would be looking to add either Luis Torrens or Cal Raleigh until we see how the Seattle bullpen situation shakes out. Torrens has been on fire, hitting .269/.377/.692 since being recalled from Triple-A with seven home runs, 12 runs, and 13 RBI. He also gets two games in Coors Field this upcoming week; however, those games are against German Marquez and Jon Gray, and then he gets a tough run of things in Oakland against Chris Bassitt, Sean Manaea, and Frankie Montas.
But my interest is piqued with him long-term, as it is with his teammate Cal Raleigh, who featured in my bold predictions column at the beginning of the season. He has tremendous power and was hitting 324/.377/.608 with nine home runs and 36 RBI in 199 plate appearances in Triple-A this season, so if he remains on the roster, I think he's there to play. This is certainly a situation to monitor over the next couple of weeks.
Also keep an eye on Stephen Vogt, who was traded to the Braves on Saturday. With William Contreras back in the minors and Travis d'Arnaud (thumb) recovering from injury, Vogt may get regular playing time in a strong Braves lineup and a good hitter's park. He could be a worthwhile pick-up for teams in two-catcher leagues that are struggling for production.
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