Fantasy Baseball Top 15 Catchers for 2011: A Second Look

Since I first did this list, several catchers have changed teams (while the biggest name was Victor Martinez, players like John Buck, Miguel Olivo and others also packed their bags).  Let’s take a look at the impact of these moves on our rankings for the upcoming year:

1. Joe Mauer—Minnesota Twins
2. Victor Martinez—Detroit Tigers
3. Brian McCann—Atlanta Braves
4. Carlos Santana—Cleveland Indians
5. Buster Posey—San Francisco Giants
6. Miguel Montero—Arizona Diamondbacks
7. Kurt Suzuki—Oakland Athletics
8. Matt Wieters—Baltimore Orioles
9. Jorge Posada—New York Yankees
10. Geovany Soto—Chicago Cubs
11. Mike Napoli—Los Angeles Angels
12. Chris Iannetta—Colorado Rockies
13. J.P. Arencibia—Toronto Blue Jays
14. Yadier Molina—St. Louis Cardinals
15. Miguel Olivo—Seattle Mariners

Thoughts

• John Buck falls off the rankings, as there is little chance that he replicates his success from 2010. In particular, the average is likely to plummet, as he posted a BABIP of .335 (he hit .281). While he has power, he doesn’t have enough upside.
• One of the players who does have upside is Arencibia, who should now be in line for everyday at-bats in Toronto. He absolutely mashed at Triple-A, hitting .301 with 32 HR in 412 AB. Yes, strikeouts are going to be a problem (making a high average unlikely), but with the amount of power he could potentially hit for, he’s an intriguing option to take a flier on if you missed out on the bigger names. He could easily be a poor man’s Mike Napoli in 2011 if given enough of an opportunity.
• The Carlos Santana-Buster Posey debate is not one that is going to end quickly. I’ll address it in the near future, so make sure to keep checking back.
• With Miguel Olivo out of Colorado, Chris Iannetta should now step into regular playing time. That is, he will if the Rockies finally decide to turn everyday duties over to him. We’ve played this song and dance before, and it always ends up with Iannetta somehow finding his way onto the bench. His upside makes him extremely intriguing, but be prepared to be disappointed.
• Speaking of Olivo, with regular playing time in Seattle he continues to hold value. He’s not a sexy name, but we know what we are going to get from him.
• With Jorge Posada clearly moving to DH with the Russell Martin signing, he gets a boost in value. The extra at-bats certainly should help him in the counting stats. His numbers could easily be similar to that of Matt Wieters and Geovany Soto; the major difference is that Soto may not be able to score many runs (only 47 in ‘10 and career high is 66). Without that, Soto becomes the worst option of the three. Wieters, however, has the most upside of the group given his age and minor league pedigree.

What are your thoughts on these rankings?  Who's too high?  Who's too low?

Make sure to check out our early 2011 rankings:

• Top 15 First Basemen
• Top 15 Second Basemen
• Top 15 Third Basemen
• Top 15 Shortstops
• Top 20 Starting Pitchers
• 2011 Fantasy Draft First Round Breakdown

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