hunter-goodman.jpg

"So, yeah, smart money is on catcher remaining mostly a wasteland for Fantasy."

That was me, exactly a year ago, writing about the state of the catcher position with an eye on 2025. If you're the kind of person still reading a Fantasy Baseball newsletter in October, you probably don't need me to tell you that sentence looks pretty silly after 2025. 

In 2025, there were 13 players who met all three of these criteria: 400-plus plate appearances, at least 20 games at catcher, and an OPS+ of at least 100. That is tied with 2014 and 1978 for the most in a season in MLB history. Raise that OPS+ threshold to 110, and the number drops to nine qualifiers, which is only the fifth-most in MLB history. 

Now, that's not necessarily a huge improvement on 2024 – 12 managed all three in 2024, surprisingly. But that list doesn't necessarily include every Fantasy-relevant catcher who emerged in 2025, either. It doesn't include, for instance, Agustin Ramirez, who had just a 92 OPS+ but was an excellent Fantasy option nonetheless; it also doesn't include either Ivan Herrera or Willson Contreras, neither of whom hit that 20 games caught mark but both of whom were absolute must-start Fantasy options all season long. 

So, maybe there's a better way to do this. Let's look at FanGraphs.com's Player Rater for help. Here's how many players at catcher were worth at least $15 by that system: 

  • 2025: 8
  • 2024: 5
  • 2023: 2
  • 2022: 3
  • 2021: 4

Here's how many were worth at least $10:

  • 2025: 13
  • 2024: 8
  • 2023: 5
  • 2022: 3
  • 2021: 5

Okay, yeah, that tells the story a little better. This was pretty clearly the best season for catchers in a long time, and the position looks better positioned entering 2025 than I can ever remember it – even with Herrera and Willson Contreras among those not retaining eligibility for 2026. Herrera should add eligibility early in the season, as should Moises Ballesteros and Carter Jensen, but even without them, I had to leave viable options out of my top 12 for the first time I can ever remember.

Now, it's worth remembering that this is just a one-season trend. And catcher is a position where attrition plays a bigger role than any besides pitcher. Two years ago, Adley Rutschman and J.T. Realmuto were the clear best options at the position, and even a year ago, you would routinely see William Contreras and Yainer Diaz go off the board as the top two options, just in case you need a reminder of how quickly things can change here.

And, of course, just because last year's crop of kids worked out doesn't mean next year's crop will do the same. Heck, just because last year's crop of kids worked out doesn't mean that same crop will work out again. Like I said, this position is defined by attrition. Guys tend to take longer to develop at catcher than any other position, and they tend to fall off earlier than at other positions. Just because we had a bunch of guys emerge as useful Fantasy options in 2025 doesn't mean the fundamental truths about the position have changed. You should still expect to be disappointed by your catchers. 

Over the next month or so, I'm going to be going through every position with an eye both on what happened in 2025 and what we can expect it to look like in 2025, and we are starting, as these things always do, with catcher. But that's not with the resigned sigh typically reserved for the position. For the first time in a long time, there are actually a lot of players worth being disappointed by at catcher. 

2025 Catcher Review

  1. Cal Raleigh, SEA: .247 - 110 - 60 - 125 - 14
  2. Hunter Goodman, COL: .278 - 73 - 31 - 91 - 1
  3. Shea Langeliers, ATH: .277 - 73 - 31 - 72 - 7
  4. William Contreras, MIL: .26 - 89 - 17 - 76 - 6
  5. Willson Contreras, STL: .257 - 70 - 20 - 80 - 5
  6. Ben Rice, NYY: .255 - 74 - 26 - 65 - 3
  7. Salvador Perez, KC: .236 - 54 - 30 - 100 - 0
  8. Agustin Ramirez, MIA: .231 - 72 - 21 - 67 - 16
  9. Ivan Herrera, STL: .283 - 54 - 19 - 66 - 8
  10. Will Smith, LAD: .296 - 64 - 17 - 61 - 2
  11. Drake Baldwin, ATL: .274 - 56 - 19 - 80 - 0
  12. Yainer Diaz, HOU: .257 - 56 - 20 - 70 - 1

If I could continue to beat this dead horse, let's compare last year's crop to this year's again. 2024's No. 7 catcher was Adley Rutschman, who hit .250 with 19 homers, one steal, and 137 combined runs and RBI; compare that to 2025's No. 12, Yainer Diaz, who hit .257 with 20 homers, 126 combined runs and RBI, and one steal. I think you can make the case that you'd rather have Rutschman's season, but again, we're comparing No. 7 to No. 12. To draw another comparison, 2024's No. 12 catcher was David Fry, who hit .263 with 14 homers, 95 combined runs and RBI and four steals; Diaz had nearly 30 more combined runs and RBI and six more steals with a similar batting average. The bar is still lower at catcher than most other positions, but that gap has narrowed significantly in the past year. 

Biggest Breakout from 2025

Hunter Goodman, Rockies

You can make the case for Raleigh here, honestly, and the leap from "very good player" to "bonafide superstar" might be the toughest there is to make. Other candidates include: Ben Rice, Agustin Ramirez, Ivan Herrera, Drake Baldwin, and … well, it was a really great year for catchers.

But nobody surprised more than Goodman, who was the No. 25 catcher in ADP entering the season and was mostly viewed as a late-round flier at best. He ended up being a must-start option all season long and actually finished the season with a slightly higher OPS in the second half than in the first. Was he a product of Coors Field? Even if he was, it doesn't matter because there's no reason to think he's going anywhere, but I will point out that his .803 OPS away from Coors was plenty good enough to be a starting-caliber catcher. Goodman's poor approach at the plate gives him some bust potential in 2026, but even then, I don't have a lot of reason to doubt what he did in 2025. He should be the third catcher off the board in pretty much all leagues at worst. 

Biggest Bust from 2025

Adley Rutschman, Orioles

Funny enough, the high end of the catcher position actually featured a few disappointments: William Contreras and Yainer Diaz would certainly both qualify. But for the second year in a row, nobody let us down more than Rutschman. And he was a disappointment long before injuries derailed his season.

Rutschman was actually worse than his disastrous 2024, because he didn't have a hot start to ruin this time around. He finished with just nine homers and 66 RBI in 90 games while hitting .220, and there really isn't much reason to be optimistic about him at this point. He has hit just .240/.314/.382 over the past two seasons, and while his excellent plate discipline is mostly still intact, Rutschman has put up well below average quality of contact metrics in consecutive seasons. He's still just 27 until next February, and the potential that he can recapture his form from 2022 and 2023 is enough to keep him in the No. 2 catcher discussion. I don't see much reason to draft Rutschman in one-catcher leagues in 2026. Heck, I might even prefer his teammate, Samuel Basallo, for the upside potential he carries. 

Biggest rankings movers from 2025 to 2026

Up: Hunter Goodman, Rockies; Shea Langeliers, Athletics; Ben Rice, Yankees

Langeliers only upped his homer total by two, but it's the rest of his game that took a huge step forward. Despite playing in 14 fewer games than 2024, he had seven more combined runs and RBI, and he improved his batting average by more than 50 points, jumping from .224 to .277. That's mostly thanks to a drop in strikeout rate from 27.2% to 19.7%, and I think his new home park might have played a role in that. Langeliers actually cut his swing speed slightly over the past two seasons, but he made a lot more contact while also swinging at more pitches in the strike zone. Perhaps playing in a friendlier ballpark – and no park in baseball played friendlier to hitters than Sacramento's, besides Coors Field – might have allowed him to chase power a bit less often, to the benefit of his whole skill set. Langeliers now seems like one of the safer bets for 30-plus homers, but without the batting average deficit he left you with in 2024. That he's only No. 4 for me at the position is a testament to the position's strength. 

Rice deserves mention. He wasn't even supposed to be catcher eligible after moving off the position, but he proved so pivotal to the Yankees' offense that they had him bring his catcher equipment back out of storage for 36 appearances. That's enough to keep eligibility for 2026, and he actually rated out well enough to project as usable there. Of course, our ideal outcome would be that Rice emerges as the Yankees' everyday first baseman for 2026 – though if he wanted to get another 20 appearances there to hold onto eligibility for 2027, well, we wouldn't say now. If you buy into the underlying numbers, Rice isn't just one of the best hitters at the catcher position, by the way; his .410 expected wOBA was the seventh-best among all hitters at any position, just ahead of Ronald Acuna, Ketel Marte, and Pete Alonso. He might need to be ranked as a top-five catcher for next season. 

Down: Adley Rutschman, Orioles; J.T. Realmuto, Phillies; Logan O'Hoppe, Angels

We've covered Rutschman, but Realmuto is another formerly elite option who has fallen out of top-12 consideration. The 34-year-old finally seemed to hit the wall, hitting .257/.315/.384, his worst triple-slash line since he was a rookie in Miami more than a decade ago. He's been one of the best players at the toughest position for a long time, and the underlying numbers suggest his dropoff has been more gradual than the baseline would suggest. But, at a time when the position is as loaded as it appears to be, you just don't need to bet on Realmuto getting back on track anymore. He's a decent No. 2 catcher who will provide useful out-of-position speed, but he's not much more than that anymore.

A year ago, O'Hoppe was right there with Langeliers as one of the best up-and-coming power sources at the position, but while Langeliers got even better, O'Hoppe totally flopped. He has real power, with well-above-average marks in average exit velocity, hard-hit rate, and barrel rate. He just doesn't make enough contact to get the most of it, with alarming in-zone whiff rates that haven't shown any signs of improvement and elevated chase rates. That's how you get to a 30% strikeout rate, and while you can certainly see 30-homer upside here, O'Hoppe hasn't gotten close in either of his full seasons and looks like an active detriment to your batting average and counting stats. He's a No. 2 catcher to wait for at this point.

Offseason preview

Who needs an upgrade most? 

It's kind of incredible how few teams actually need an upgrade at catcher. Even otherwise hapless teams like the White Sox and Rockies have Kyle Teel (and Edgar Quero!) and Hunter Goodman. The Phillies stand out with Realmuto heading into free agency; I would guess they'll bring him back on a shorter, cheap-ish deal, but that's already a pretty old roster, and finding a younger option wouldn't be a bad idea. Though, as we'll see shortly, there just aren't a lot of options here, and with the Phillies' top catching prospect, according to MLB.com (Caleb Ricketts), coming off a season where he had a .303 OBP as a 25-year-old in Double-A, Realmuto might realistically be the best choice for them.

The Rangers and Padres could also use an upgrade at catcher, though in the latter case, I'd imagine Freddy Fermin is the kind of passable backstop on an otherwise good roster that they'll pass on making a real run at an upgrade. Especially with Ethan Salas still eventually set to be part of the team's plans. 

The Pirates are the one team where a big swing would make sense. Adding Realmuto wouldn't really work for their timetable, but splurging on a somewhat expensive veteran with his reputation might be a way to tell the fans (and Paul Skenes), "Hey, we're trying." Their attempts to make Henry Davis, Joey Bart, and Endy Rodriguez the answer have flopped, though Rafael Flores is still young enough to be worth a look after a breakout season prior to joining the Pirates by way of the Yankees' catching factory. 

Top impending free agents

Yeah, it's pretty grim out there. Maybe some team will decide to give Realmuto three years and $45 million, or something, but everyone here is a one-year, stop-gap option, at best. Your favorite team likely won't find the answer to its catching problems in free agency. 

Trade candidates

There's a lot of speculation here, especially at the top of that list. I think it's extremely unlikely that the Orioles would ever turn things over full-time to Basallo, especially after he struggled in his first taste of the majors in 2025. But a change of scenery wouldn't be a bad thing for Rutschman, and if the Orioles want to free up their DH spot for a non-catcher, that would certainly give them more flexibility. But I'll admit, it's a long shot.

Murphy seems much likelier to get moved given the emergence of Drake Baldwin, but that might depend on what happens with Marcell Ozuna and the DH spot this offseason; $16 million for Murphy to be a more or less full-time DH probably isn't the most efficient way to spend your resources, but it's one option the Braves could pursue. If not, Murphy could still be a top-15 or so catcher in Fantasy, though not the difference maker he once was. 

The more interesting names here, though, are the various prospects/younger guys. That includes Ballesteros, Rushing, and Ford, all of whom got at least a taste of the majors this season but just don't seem to have an obvious spot moving forward. In Ballesteros' case, that's more because of questions about his long-term defensive home, but we'd love to see him end up somewhere he can catch enough to at least retain eligibility, ala Agustin Ramirez. He's probably the best hitter of this group, though Rushing's strong eye at the plate, combined with 14 homers in 72 games at Triple-A, remains very enticing. He could be part of the answer for the Dodgers in the outfield corners, either via a trade or by improving enough defensively himself to be an option out there. Any one of those three, especially could be a top-12 option if they get the chance. 

Top 2026 rookies to know

Despite how well the young guys acquitted themselves this season, we should still approach young catchers with caution. They face a steeper learning curve, both in the minors and in the majors, than players at other positions, and are taking on a tougher physical toll, too. Basallo, Mack, and Jensen all seem likely to have some kind of role in the majors early in the season, though Basallo is the only one who necessarily looks like a difference maker. Ford's unique skill set could make him one, but he probably needs a trade to get a real chance.