Catcher Tiers Update — May 2012
In contrast to what we did last season, this year we’re doing monthly updates for our positional rankings as laid out by Eno Sarris and his minions. In addition to that, we’re doing our monthly positional tier updates as well which should aid you in your waiver pick-ups and trade negotiations when you’re comparing values. The rankings can be found over here and below is how I see them by tier…
| U.S. Prime |
| Mike Napoli |
| Buster Posey |
| Carlos Santana |
Hard to argue against any of these guys being a top backstop. Napoli and Santana give you great power, a mediocre average, but a solid OBP. Posey gives you a little less power but a better batting average with a solid OBP as well. A slight tweak within the tier to reflect my thoughts as to who I would actually rank where.
| U.S. Choice |
| Matt Wieters |
| Jesus Montero |
| Brian McCann |
| Joe Mauer |
In truth, I really thought about just combining these top two tiers into one mega-tier and again, I made a few tweaks to reflect my opinion. Wieters could very well reside with the top group, as could Montero based on the way he’s hit coupled with expectations. McCann and Mauer are here more for name and reputation, in my opinion, but McCann could separate himself a little.
| U.S. Select |
| Miguel Montero |
| Yadier Molina |
| Alex Avila |
Molina is playing well enough to move up a tier, but would prefer to see where the power ends up in another month or two. Montero is steady and Avila’s got some pop, but the average is suffering this season.
| U.S. Standard |
| Wilson Ramos |
| J.P. Arencibia |
| A.J. Pierzynski |
| Geovany Soto |
| Russell Martin |
| Ryan Doumit |
| Jonathan Lucroy |
Run of the mill catchers here. A little bit of potential in the various offensive categories, but we’ve seen the ceilings of the veterans listed here and the youngsters still have a ways to go before they reach their full potential.
| U.S. Commerical |
| Kurt Suzuki |
| Carlos Ruiz |
| Ramon Hernandez |
| Jarrod Saltalamacchia |
Now we’re looking at some drop-off, although Salty could really be on his way up if he fixed that batting average.  Ruiz is playing great, but realistically, how long can he keep his current pace going? My guess is not long.
| U.S. Utility |
| Chris Iannetta |
| Devin Mesoraco |
| Josh Thole |
| Nick Hundley |
Iannetta’s average dropped hard throughout the month and could push him down further if he doesn’t make some positive changes. Mesoraco is still stuck in a platoon, Thole is barely average and Hundley is struggling right now, but could easily turn things around sooner than later.
| U.S. Cutter |
| Salvador Perez |
| John Buck |
| Ryan Hanigan |
| A.J. Ellis |
| Rod Barajas |
Ellis should be up a tier, in my opinion, but I didn’t want to alter the rankings too dramatically here in the tiers. He’s greatly improved at the plate and has more walks than he does strikeouts. The rest of the crew in this tier can be avoided, although we’ll see how Perez does once healthy.
| U.S. Canner |
| Yorvit Torrealba |
| Miguel Olivo |
| John Jaso |
| Jason Castro |
Bottom of the barrel….well, can. You don’t want ‘em. You don’t need ‘em. You only use if you are absolutely desperate.
If Grandal gets called up, what tier would he belong in? Utility with a chance to move up?
Obviously it all depends on how he hits, how much he plays with relation to Nick Hundley, etc., but with a call-up this year, I think I would probably start him off somewhere between Utility and Cutter and see what he does from there…
Surprised to see Soto still hanging on in that tier. He’s sucked this year. Doesn’t show much promise of turning it around. I already cut bait with him in favor of Ruiz because of how bad he is playing and Welington Castillo/Steve Clevenger being on the roster.
waaayyyy too low on yadier
Ruiz has been the most consistent player after Ethier in my lineup. Definitely deserves more credit, not for high numbers but consistent ones.
Somehow I ended up with Napoli, Yadier, and Jesus Montero and so far, Yadier is by far the most consistent hitting .304 with 11 doubles, only 9 k’s and 4 stolen bases tossed in as a bargain. Montero is pretty close statistically, but Napoli has been hot and cold all year. One great week with 6 HRs but also 31 Ks so far…ouch.
Wiln Rosario not worth a mention? Big power and nice catching tools with only Hernandez to overcome. I’m buying.
I’m a big Rosario fan as well, but he didn’t make the rankings list done by Eno and the boys for some reason. For me, he’s at the high end of the Utility Tier with a strong chance to move up as many as two tiers with some increased playing time. However, with Hernandez playing more, Rosario’s value this year takes a hit.
Not a single mention of A.J. Ellis? I know he’s all OBP, but for people in OBP leagues…. in fact, I just saw an article on this site praising him a couple of days ago.
Sorry! Disregard my comment. I see A.J. in there now.
Gents: who would you take ROS in an OBP/SLG league? Doumit, Soto, ‘Netta, Hernandez, Suzuki, Ellis, Rosario?
I would probably go with Hernandez (good SLG), Ellis (will slow down but shoudl still produce) and then maybe Iannetta….
thank you sir!
Wieters outranks Napoli by the end of the season in all 5 categories. Have you seen Napoli’s K rate so far this year?? He goes back to .250 and you know he will miss a month or so. Wieters has youth on his side and has only improved the last 3 years.
If AJ Ellis should be up a tier why not actually put him in a higher tier? It’s your rankings, you can do whatever the hell you want. I’m not going to knock you for putting Ellis where you have him, but I *will* knock you for putting him low and clearly stating he should be higher without. Heck, at least say something along the lines of “his production should place him higher but I’m not quite a believer this isn’t a fluke.”.
Point well taken, Bobzilla, but these actually are not my rankings. I’m just grouping them up into tiers as a way to help equate values. The rankings were done by Eno and three other contributors as you’ll see on the rankings page.
Had these been my rankings, Mauer would have been lower and Wieters higher, just for starters……..
How about Carlos Ruiz? Don’t you think he should be higher up?
I would push him up near Yadier Molina. Similar hitter, just with a few less RBI on the Phillies.
Jesus Montero is killing me in my 2 keerper league= =
Should i really need to wait for him?
Jesus Montero is undervalued to me, not in this list but erywhere else. He should get more ab’s than just about every other catcher since he sees so much time at DH.
Just did a straight up trade Montero for Ruiz. Seems like a great trade for me now..how do you guys think those two will compare the rest of the season?