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
Not including Sunday's games (5/9) - I told you before last week started that injuries made it a brutal week:
- Tucker Barnhart (5 starts) 6-22, 3 RBI, 3 Runs (WIN - wasn't flashy but it'll do the job)
- Dom Nunez (3 starts) 1-9, 1 Run (Loss - he has started to lose some work to Elias Diaz)
- Yan Gomes (4 starts) 6-17, 4 Runs, 2 RBI (WIN - one tremendous game but it works)
- Jacob Stallings (4 starts) 5-20, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 2 Run (WIN - strong end of the week)
- William Contreras (3 starts) 4-12, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 3 Runs (WIN - the HRs help)
SEASON STREAMING RECORD: 17-14
All matchup projections are made in conjunction with Roster Resource and @Rotoquotes on Twitter, which is a great fantasy resource for upcoming schedules.
Week Seven Catcher Waiver Wire (5/17 - 5/23)
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, Buster Posey, and Yadier Molina.
Mitch Garver, Minnesota Twins
44% Rostered
Garver has started to come on a little bit lately. I covered that he found himself on the Blast leaderboard, which was a sign that he was making good quality contact, but the results have started to follow. Over the last two weeks, Garver is hitting .241/.290/.536 with two HR and four RBI. It's still not quite the results of 2019, but he's been finding himself in the middle of the Twins' lineup and the uptick in slugging will lead to strong opportunities for runs and RBI.
Perhaps more importantly, the Twins will play EIGHT GAMES next week, which likely means five starts for Garver against a slate of arms that doesn't really scare me. Lance Lynn and Shane Bieber are aces, but Lucas Giolito has been struggling with the command of his changeup lately and Dallas Keuchel, Triston McKenzie, and Sam Hentges are also arms we should be wanting to target with the right-handed Garver.
Yan Gomes, Washington Nationals
22% Rostered
Gomes has been really strong as the primary catcher for the Nationals. He has always shown some acumen with the bat, but getting consistent playing time seems to be paying off for the veteran. Over the last two weeks, Gomes is 5th overall in plate appearances by a catcher, which means you're getting regular at-bats from him and, as we've discussed many times, that's one of the most important things when choosing a streaming catcher.
It also doesn't hurt that over that same span, Gomes is hitting .350/.366/.600 with two HR and six RBI. Gomes now gets a tantalizing week in which the Nationals will get seven starts and only face one truly impressive starter in John Means. Adbert Alzolay has some upside because of his strong slider, but there is an awful lot of green on that chart above which means you can fire Gomes up with confidence.
Omar Narvaez, Milwaukee Brewers
38% Rostered
Narvaez is back from the IL. He slipped under the 50% rostered threshold while he was gone. While I'm not excited that he only has five games this week, I think he could push for four starts given the off days and, at the least, will make three starts. Given the schedule he has during the week, I'll take my chances on three games from a hitter that I trust over four games from a guy like Pedro Severino or Kurt Suzuki.
Given that Narvaez is also a lefty, Danny Duffy may be the toughest matchup during the week, but we know he's going to come down to earth a bit, and we saw it start to happen in his last start. With Luis Castillo still unable to put hitters away, Sonny Gray remains the only other arm on this slate that we should be hesitant to face right now, but he's had some home run issues in that ballpark, so Narvaez still has a chance to do some damage there. He rounds it out with Brad Keller and Jeff Hoffman, who are both below-average major league starters.
Jacob Stallings, Pittsburgh Pirates
5% Rostered
Stallings is a super low-ceiling option for your fantasy team, but he also has a relatively safe floor. We know he's going to start and hit near the middle of the Pirates lineup for at least 75% of their games in a given week, and there simply aren't many catchers you can say that about. In fact, Stalling ranks just below Gomes with the 7th most plate appearances by a catcher over the last two weeks, and he's been coming alive a little with the bat, hitting .286/.359/.618 over that span with two HR and seven RBI.
The solid average is something we've come to expect from Stallings, but the home runs were a pleasant surprise. Given the HR/FB% numbers of the pitchers on this list, it wouldn't be a surprise to see him keep it up. With his tougher schedule, I don't love him as option this week, but I think John Gant is due for major regression and all of the arms listed above, with the exception of Jack Flaherty, are liable to give up some hits or have a blow-up inning here or there so we can still get a solid floor week from Stallings. He might be a better bet than a guy like Tucker Barnhart, who is splitting time and faces Julio Urias, Walker Buehler, and Clayton Kershaw in his upcoming schedule. He's also a good option for people who need to get rid of Dom Nunez now that he's no longer in Coors all week.
William Contreras, Atlanta Braves
18% Rostered
It wasn't a great week for Contreras, but he's been solid and is locked into the lion's share of the catching work in Atlanta, which will likely mean four or five starts for the young backstop. He's 8th overall in plate appearances over the last two weeks, and is hitting .265/.359/.618 over that span with three HR and eight RBI.
There's really not much more you can want from a streaming catcher and we should be able to expect that to keep rolling with the friendly upcoming schedule. Yes, Taijuan Walker has been good for the Mets, but facing the Mets and not facing Jacob deGrom is a massive win. JT Brubaker has also been good for the Pirates, but that isn't a rotation that we are afraid of, especially with Wil Crowe and Mitch Keller also on the docket.
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