Leandre: Top 30 catchers entering 2024, 20-11
The talent pool is only getting stronger at the catcher position as we move into the top 20 entering the 2024 season.
You really see the depth of the catcher position with the top 20, to be honest.
When looking at this group of 10, you can make the case that pretty much everyone from 18 and up deserves to rank in the top 10. Some of these guys either look like future stars at the position or were in my top 10 for multiple years before 2024.
I mentioned this in my previous ranking for the 20s, but there’s a certain level of depth at catcher this game hasn’t seen since the era of Ivan Rodriguez, Mike Piazza, Jorge Posada, etc.
Before jumping into the middle third of these rankings, let’s recap who ranked from No. 30 to 21.
30. Jose Trevino, New York Yankees
29. Yasmani Grandal, Pittsburgh Pirates
28. Yan Gomes, Chicago Cubs
27. Freddy Fermin, Kansas City Royals
26. Austin Hedges, Cleveland Guardians
25. Kyle Higashioka, San Diego Padres
24. Logan O’Hoppe, Los Angeles Angels
23. Tyler Stephenson, Cincinnati Reds
22. Victor Caratini, Houston Astros
21. Tom Murphy, San Francisco Giants
Now, let’s get into the top 20.
20. Gabriel Moreno — Arizona Diamondbacks
Perhaps a surprise ranking for Moreno, who emerged as a budding star last postseason during the D-backs’ Cinderella run to a National League pennant.
That said, I think 20th makes sense for him. Defensively, he was tremendous at controlling the running game as well as blocking pitches. That said, he’s got work to do in the strike-stealing department.
Offensively, he saw an uptick in power — .444 slugging and .206 ISO — from his regular season numbers. But he was similar in terms of hitting against the league average (101 wRC+ for the postseason, 103 in the regular season).
If the pop is here to stay, and he’s a strong kid so it’s certainly possible, the sky is the limit for Moreno. If he can maintain his power and improve as a framer, he’s got perennial All-Star tattooed on his forehead.
19. Travis d’Arnaud — Atlanta Braves
Year-to-year, it’s becoming impossible to figure out the kind of hitter we’re going to see d’Arnaud be.
His wRC+, by year, since 2019 is as follows: 100, 144, 79, 120, 83.
It’s no wonder he’s a career 100 wRC+ hitter as he enters his 12th season in the majors.
If history repeats itself, he’s due for a borderline All-Star campaign. His defense remains up to snuff as it pertains to carrying his wins above replacement as the backup catcher. If he can hit, especially on the days he’s DHing, he’ll be in store for a two-and-a-half-to-three-win season.
18. Luis Campusano — San Diego Padres
We’ve seen the young backstop in spurts dating back to the 2020 season, but 2023 was truly his first opportunity to flash his potential at the MLB level.
To simply say he didn’t disappoint would be an understatement. In 49 games, he slashed .319/.356/.491 with a 136 wRC+ and seven homers across 174 plate appearances. While he did outperform his xwOBA, a 16-point outperformance hardly appears as a red flag.
That said, his walk rate came in at just 4% while coupled with a .331 BABIP. Compared to the league average hitter in 2023, he had half the walk rate and a 34-point leg-up on balls in play.
That’s not to say he benefitted from insane luck, it’s just something to monitor going forward.
17. Bo Naylor — Cleveland Guardians
Naylor flashed potential on both sides of the ball in 2023, posting a 124 wRC+ and 1.7 frame runs in 67 games.
Ultimately, there are a couple of reasons he ranks higher than Campusano entering the 2024 season. First off, he walks three times as frequently, which makes him an on-base candidate even when he’s not hitting. Second, he had nearly a 60-point edge in ISO last year.
While Naylor’s xwOBA was only .310 in 2023, he did enough despite that to eke out Campusano.
16. Yainer Diaz — Houston Astros
Diaz can hammer the baseball — there’s a reason fans, both Astros and MLB fans alike, were clamoring for him to get playing time over Martin Maldonado last postseason.
This year, Maldonado is in Chicago, which means more of Diaz in the lineup.
The reason he ranks so low despite hammering the baseball to the tune of a 127 wRC+ in 2023 is his defense remains some to be desired.
His arm is good, and his blocking is very solid, but he’s a well below-average framer who logged fewer than 400 innings back there.
I’m also generally weary of hitters with very low walk rates. Among 328 hitters with 250 or more plate appearances, Diaz ranked 326th.
15. Willson Contreras — St. Louis Cardinals
Marred by the disappointing season the Cardinals had was Contreras’ production.
Replacing a Hall-of-Famer in Yadier Molina is seemingly impossible, especially when your manager seems keen on making an example out of you before you finish three months with the team.
Contreras embodied it all, kept his head down, and finished 2023 with a 127 wRC+ and 2.4 fWAR in 125 games.
We all know the man can hit, as he’s shown pretty much every year since his debut in 2016. The reason he ranks 15th is because his defense is still suspect. His arm is still a strength and helps him control the running game, but his blocking and framing were very poor in 2023. Especially the latter, which saw him in the 13th percentile.
14. Gary Sánchez — Milwaukee Brewers
Blocking is still a struggle for the new Milwaukee Brewers backstop, but his arm remains a strength and his framing has aged like fine wine.
Is his framing elite? No, but since he left the New York Yankees after 2021, he’s been comfortably within the 60s in percentile rank.
For reference, he only had one year in the top half of the league as a Yankee in framing (2018).
Offensively, what you see is what you get. There’s a lot of power, there’s more than a fair amount of swing-and-miss. However, the power (and now defense!!) makes up for it.
13. Danny Jansen — Toronto Blue Jays
I’m a ride-or-die when it comes to Danny Jansen.
To be frank, I’m amazed more teams haven’t inquired about getting him to be their primary backstop.
He’s blocked by 2022 All-Star Alejandro Kirk for playing time but still shows out when he gets into action. Since he’s first among catchers with a minimum of 500 plate appearances with a .487 slugging percentage. He’s also sixth in wRC+, sixth in wOBA and 10th in homers despite ranking 34th in games played.
He’s more than just a slugger, also. While 2023 wasn’t a strong defensive season for him, he’s historically one of the better pitch-blockers in the league with flashes of great framing potential.
12. Ryan Jeffers — Minnesota Twins
Not enough credit has been given to Jeffers for how he dominated the 2023 season for the Twins.
Despite technically being the backup to Christian Vazquez, Jeffers nearly tripled the value output.
In 96 games, he posted a 138 wRC+ with just a slightly negative framing runs output. Historically, he’s settled in the positive-three range for two of his three full seasons in the bigs, so right now I’ll chalk that up as an outlier down year.
His arm and his blocking are historically not strengths, but the offensive output outweighs that in my opinion.
He’s unironically been the perfect replacement for Mitch Garver, who was traded to the Texas Rangers before the 2022 season.
11. Francisco Alvarez — New York Mets
Rounding out the middle third is the 22-year-old Mets backstop, Francisco Alvarez.
Last year, we saw the ups and downs of a typical MLB rookie season with the youngster at the plate. But behind the dish? He was one of the best in the league from a strike-stealing standpoint.
Among 38 catchers with at least 500 defensive innings, he ranked third in framing runs (15.2). He’s also above the league average in pop time, we’ve just yet to see it impact his control of the running game so far.
Offensively, he’s got serious power. He only slugged .437, but his .228 ISO ranked fifth at the position with a minimum of 250 plate appearances.
I think Alvarez is a future multi-time All-Star and, with some improvements, a potential multi-time Gold Glover.
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