A lot of American League Only Fantasy Leagues use two catcher starting positions and that is not a good thing for owners as not many of them are hitting well this year. If you have Salvador Perez, Brian McCann or Welington Castillo on your roster, you are sitting pretty. Here is a look at each team’s current situation in the American League at catcher:
Baltimore Orioles – Welington Castillo is off to a really good start and he only gets days off once in a while. He has played in 14 games for the Orioles this year and he is 16 for 55 (.291 avg., .704 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 0 homers and 3 RBI. Castillo is a free swinger, as he has only walked 1 time against 13 whiffs this year, but he hunts fastballs. In 2015 and 2016, he averaged 16.5 homers and 62.5 RBI per year, so I think his power numbers will improve in the near future. Caleb Joseph is no threat to Castillo’s playing time. Joseph didn’t have any homers or RBI last year in 49 games with the Orioles, which is almost impossible when you think about it! Joseph has played in 6 games this year for the Orioles and he is 2 for 18 (.111 avg., .278 OPS) with 1 run scored.
New York Yankees – I really hope that you weren’t the guy at the auction that spent big money on Gary Sanchez. Sanchez was in beast mode when the Yankees called him up last year. He played in 53 games for the Yankees last year and he was 60 for 201 (.299 avg., 1.032 OPS) with 34 runs scored, 20 homers, 42 RBI and 1 stolen base. It looks like pitchers have made adjustments to Sanchez, as he was off to a slow start before straining his right biceps and landing on the D.L. Sanchez has played in 5 games for the Yankees this year and he is 3 for 20 (.150 avg., .490 OPS) with 1 run scored, 1 homer and 2 RBI. Sanchez’ backup, Austin Romine has taken over as the starting catcher and he is actually playing pretty well for the Yankees. He has played in 12 games for the Yankees this year and he is 12 for 37 (.324 avg., .840 OPS) with 5 runs scored, 1 homer and 5 RBI. I doubt that he can keep up his current production at the plate as he was a career .222 hitter (.586 OPS) with 5 homers and 37 RBI in his first 139 games with the Yankees. The Yankees promoted Kyle Higashioka to replace Sanchez on the roster and to back up Romine. He has played in 4 games for the Yankees this year and he is 0 for 10 (.000 avg., .000 OPS).
Boston Red Sox – Switch hitting Sandy Leon came literally out of nowhere in 2016 for the Red Sox. He played in 78 games for the Red Sox last year and he was 78 of 252 (.310 avg., .845 OPS) with 36 runs scored, 7 homers and 35 RBI. It’s starting to look like Leon’s 2016 season was kind of fluky. After all, he was a .187 career hitter in the show coming into last year. So it should come as little surprise that is struggling at the plate so far this year. He has played in 12 games for the Red Sox this year and he is 9 for 44 (.205 avg., .540 OPS) with 4 runs scored, 1 homer and 6 RBI. If I had Leon on my roster, I would be trying to deal him right now. Because 26-year old righty swinging Christian Vazquez is off to a red-hot start with the bat in 2017! He has played in 8 games for the Red Sox this year and he is 11 for 23 (.478 avg., 1.259 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 0 homers, 3 RBI and 1 stolen base. Vazquez could bump Leon to the bench in the near future, as he was considered the best catching prospect in the Red Sox’ system until he was injured in 2015.
[the_ad id=”384″]Tampa Bay Rays – If you have Wilson Ramos stashed on your D.L., good for you. If you drafted or bought the Rays’ other catchers, I feel bad for you. Ramos won’t be ready to get behind the plate until at least late July, so the Rays are likely going to stick with Derek Norris and Jesus Sucre until then. Norris is the starter for the Rays right now. He has played in 16 games for the Rays this year and he is only 9 for 58 (.155 avg., .363 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 0 homers, 5 RBI and 1 stolen base. Norris was an American League All-Star in 2014 and he hit a combined 38 homers from 2014-2016, so maybe he can turn things around with the bat soon. I would let some other owner in my league take that chance. Sucre has played in 7 games for the Rays this year and he is 5 for 20 (.250 Avg, .686 OPS) with 1 run scored, 1 homer, 5 RBI and 1 stolen base. Don’t be fooled by Sucre’s hitting so far this year, as he came into this season with a .209 batting average (.522 OPS) with 2 homers and 20 RBI in his first 90 games in the show.
Toronto Blue Jays – A lot of American League Only Fantasy League GMs were probably all over 34-year old righty swinging Russell Martin in drafts and auctions…..and why not? In his first two years with the Blue Jays (2015 and 2016), he averaged 21.5 homers and 75.5 RBI per season! Those are great fantasy numbers, but he is off to a very slow start with the bat in 2017. Martin has played in 16 games for the Jays this year and he is only 10 for 54 (.185 avg., .658 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 2 homers and 2 RBI. He has also whiffed 21 times so far this year, which is troubling. The Jays were planning on giving Martin more time off this year when they signed 31-year old switch-hitting Jarrod Saltalamacchia, but that probably isn’t going to happen. Saltalamacchia has played in 9 games for the Jays this year and he is only 1 for 22 (.045 avg., .091 OPS) with 1 run scored. He has also whiffed 14 times without a walk in his first 22 at bats this year!
Detroit Tigers – 26-year old righty swinging James McCann has taken over as the starting catcher for the Tigers in 2017. He has played in 14 games for the Tigers this year and he is 8 for 45 (.178 avg., .820 OPS) with 7 runs scored, 5 homers and 11 RBI. He cracked 19 homers in 2015 and 2016 combined for the Tigers in 219 games, so the power isn’t fluky. He will have to look over his shoulder due to the start that 30-year old lefty swinging Alex Avila is off to with the bat! Avila has played in 11 games for the Tigers this year and he is 11 of 27 (.407 avg., 1.426 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 4 homers and 8 RBI. Avila has been playing a lot at first base right now, but when Miguel Cabrera comes off the D.L., he could start pushing McCann for playing time. Two things to keep in mind about Avila. 1.) He hasn’t hit well since 2011 when he was an All-Star for the Tigers and won a Silver Slugger Award and 2.) His father is the GM of the Tigers.
Chicago White Sox – Owners were literally running to their computers to put a waiver in for Geovany Soto after he got off to a red-hot start with the bat for the White Sox. But, I noticed that he was having a hard time even throwing the ball back to the pitcher. Sure enough, he was placed on the D.L. due to an elbow injury. He is back now, but it should be noted that Soto has not played in more than 100 games in a season since 2011 (125 games) when he played with the Cubs! Soto has played in 7 games for the White Sox this year and he is 4 for 22 (.182 avg., .871 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 3 homers and 5 RBI. 25-year old lefty swinging Omar Narvaez will share time with Soto behind the plate. He has played in 10 games for the Pale Hose this year and he is 7 for 28 (.250 Avg, .668 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 0 homers and 3 RBI. Narvaez has hit 1 homer in his first 44 games in the show and only 7 in his 8 years in the minors covering 459 games, so he doesn’t have much of an upside in Fantasy Baseball!
Cleveland Indians – The Indians have their catchers (Yan Gomes and Roberto Perez) locked up long term, so they are going to continue to play a lot and hurt your Fantasy teams at the same time! Gomes is the starter, for now. He has played in 15 games for the Tribe this year and he is 8 for 44 (.182 avg., .538 OPS) with 5 runs scored, 1 homer and 2 RBI. That means, that since the opening of the 2016 season, Gomes has played in 89 games for the Indians in which he is only 50 for 295 (.169 avg., .530 OPS) with 27 runs scored, 10 homers and 36 RBI. Gomes has struggled with the bat since winning the Silver Slugger Award in 2014! Perez hasn’t been any better at the plate this year for the Indians. He has played in 7 games for the Tribe this year and he is only 3 for 22 (.136 avg., .303 OPS) with 2 RBI. Like Gomes, he has struggled mightily with the bat since the opening of the 2016 season. He has played in 68 games since the 2016 season started for the Tribe and he is only 31 of 175 (.177 avg., .545 OPS) with 14 runs scored, 3 homers and 19 RBI. Working in Gomes’ and Perez’ favor is the fact that they are both outstanding defensive catchers with strong arms. Gomes and Perez need to be looking over their shoulders to Akron, Ohio, which is where top prospect Francisco Mejia is playing. Mejia has played in 14 games in AA-ball this year for the Tribe and he is 18 for 53 (.340 avg., .893 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 0 homers and 7 RBI.
Minnesota Twins – The Twins gave the big money to 29-year old lefty swinging Jason Castro over the winter, so he is going to be the full-time guy for them behind the plate. Castro has played in 16 games for the Twins this year and he is 11 for 52 (.212 Avg, .704 OPS) with 7 runs scored, 2 homers and 9 RBI. Castro has struggled with the bat since he was an All-Star with the Astros in 2013. Castro will give you some power (54 homers from 2013-2016) and a poor batting average (.215 since the beginning of the 2014 season)! Chris Gimenez is pure backup material. He has played in 9 games for the Twins so far this year and he is 4 for 21 (.190 avg., .632 OPS) with 1 run scored and 2 RBI.
Kansas City Royals – Salvador Perez is the best bet for a catcher in the American League. He likes to play every day. He has been an American League All-Star four straight seasons in which he played in an amazing 569 games! In his four All-Star seasons, Perez averaged 18.3 homers and 70.8 RBI per year, which are outstanding production numbers for a catcher! Perez has played in 18 games for the Royals this year and he is 17 for 68 (.250 avg., .763 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 5 homers and 9 RBI. Perez’ backup, Drew Butera is pure backup material. He has played in 8 games for the Royals this year and he is 3 for 16 (.188 avg., .438 OPS) with 1 run scored.
Houston Astros – No team is set up as well at catcher in the American League as the Astros are! 7-time All-Star Brian McCann is the starting catcher for the Astros. He has played in 15 games this year and he is 15 of 52 (.288 avg., .810 OPS) with 7 runs scored, 2 homers and 9 RBI. Since 2006, McCann has only one year (2007 with the Braves) in which he has hit less than 20 homers, and he hit 18 of them that year! From 2006-2016, McCann averaged 21.8 homers and 78.6 RBI per season. He is a great catcher for fantasy purposes! No team in baseball has a better hitting backup catcher than the Astros do in righty swinging Evan Gattis! Gattis has played in 13 games for the Astros this year and he is 11 for 37 (.297 avg., .845 OPS) with 7 runs scored, 1 homer and 8 RBI. He cranked 32 homers and had 72 RBI for the Astros last year! Gattis averaged 25.5 homers and 69.3 RBI in his first four years in the show (2013-2017).
[the_ad id=”693″]Oakland A’s – Lefty swinging Stephen Vogt and righty swinging Josh Phegley platoon behind the plate for the A’s. Vogt is coming off back to back seasons of being an All-Star. He averaged 16 homers and 63.5 RBI in his All-Star seasons, which is pretty solid production for a catcher. But, he is off to a slow start with the bat in 2017. He has played in 14 games for the A’s so far this year and he is 11 for 50 (.220 avg., .605 OPS) with 4 runs scored, 1 homer and 3 RBI. Phegley has pretty good power, but he is on the wrong side of the platoon. He has played in 8 games for the A’s this year and he is 5 for 23 (.217 avg., .652 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 1 homer and 3 RBI.
Los Angeles Angels – Martin Maldonado is the starting catcher for the Angels because of his defense. He has played in 18 games for the Angels this year and he is 12 for 48 (.250 avg., .616 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 0 homers and 2 RBI. Maldonado is in his 7th year in the show and he has career highs of 79 games played, 22 runs scored, 8 homers, 30 RBI and 1 stolen base! He has only hit over .250 one time in his Major League career so far (.266 in 2012)! Juan Graterol is the backup and he isn’t much of a hitter either. He has played in 3 games for the Angels this year and he is 1 for 5 (.200 avg., .400 OPS).
Texas Rangers – Jonathan Lucroy went for big bucks in auctions this year and he will probably be worth it in the end. He has played in 15 games for the Rangers this year and he is 11 for 56 (.196 avg., .505 OPS) with 5 runs scored, 1 homer and 4 RBI. From 2011-2016, Lucroy hit .287 (.800 OPS) and he averaged 14.3 homers and 65.3 RBI per year. Those are solid offensive numbers for a catcher. Lucroy could get more time off than anticipated in 2017 if his backup (Robinson Chirinos) keeps raking like he is so far this year! Chirinos has played in 7 games for the Rangers this year and he is 7 for 18 (.389 avg., 1.611 OPS) with 7 runs scored, 4 homers and 9 RBI.
Seattle Mariners – The Mariners were hoping that 2017 would be the year that Mike Zunino took his game to a new level. He averaged 15 homers per season from 2014-2016 for the Mariners, but that also came with a very weak batting average (.191) and a lot of whiffs (355 in 952 at bats)! Zunino isn’t even hitting for power this year, while still whiffing a lot. He has played in 17 games for the Mariners this year and he is 10 for 54 (.185 avg., .526 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 0 homers, 2 RBI and 21 whiffs! 38-year old righty swinging Carlos Ruiz is too old to be a starter, so the Mariners need Zunino to pick up the pace with the bat soon. Ruiz has played in 6 games for the Mariners this year and he is 2 for 15 (.133 avg., 516 OPS) with 2 runs scored and 1 RBI.