6 Young Fantasy Baseball Breakout Catchers - Are There Too Many Good Catchers For Fantasy?

May 30, 2025

Kevin analyzes 6 young catcher fantasy baseball breakouts. Will this influx of talent change the position, and are there too many good catchers now for fantasy?

For years in fantasy baseball, it has been quite a struggle to fill your catcher position, especially in deep leagues and two-catcher formats. This has led to top catchers being drafted at high premiums in redraft leagues, as the replacement level at the position seemed so low.

This season, we have suddenly had a massive influx of offensive talent at the catcher position, causing us to ask the question: Are there too many good catchers?

Other than the Carson-sanity run in April for Carson Kelly, most of this influx is young catchers breaking out in a big way. Let's take a look at a few of them. Will these emerging young catchers make us re-evaluate the catcher position for fantasy in both redraft and dynasty?

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Ivan Herrera, St. Louis Cardinals

When the Cardinals signed Willson Contreras a couple of years ago, he was seen as their catcher of the future and heir apparent to Yadier Molina. It turns out they do not love his defense behind the plate, and they've finally pulled the plug on him at catcher and moved him to first base this season.

In his place, the Cardinals seemed to have created his clone (at least offensively) in Ivan Herrera. Herrera was a popular breakout candidate this offseason since he had strong production in previous seasons at the major league level, but now he was going to have a ton of playing time opportunities in St. Louis.

Herrera had a 121 WRC+ in 44 PAs in 2023 and a 127 WRC+ in 259 PAs in 2024. The strong 2024 production came along with a .301 BA, five long balls, and five steals. If he just duplicated his 2024 season across a full season of being a primary catcher in 2025, he would be a starting-caliber catcher in fantasy.

However, Herrera has stepped up his game in a big way in 2025. Over his first 82 PAs, he has an absurd 217 WRC+. He's doing this by hitting for more power and making more contact. He's already matched his 2024 HR total and increased his ISO to .304. He's also decreased his K-rate down to 15.9 percent.

So I think Herrera will come down to earth a bit over the coming months. He's not going to sustain a .415 BABIP, and he's outperforming his xwOBA by 60 points right now. However, he's flashed the ability to be a .300 hitter in the past, and now you're getting more juice in the bat.

He has increased his Avg. EV from 2024 to 2025 by two mph to 91.3. His hard-hit rate is up about six percentage points to 48.3 percent, and his barrel rate is up almost five percentage points to 13.8 percent. Herrera is an easy top-eight catcher for me going forward, with the upside to rise even higher.

Drake Baldwin, Atlanta Braves

Going into the season, Drake Baldwin was getting a lot of hype in the prospect world as a solid all-around catcher. Despite putting up strong offensive numbers throughout his minor league career, his fantasy hype was a bit quieter as the Braves didn't seem to have much playing time for him with Sean Murphy as the primary catcher and Marcell Ozuna as the everyday DH.

In 2024, across Double-A and Triple-A, Baldwin had a 125 WRC+ with an incredibly impressive approach at the plate. He walked 13.1 percent of the time while only striking out 17.2 percent of the time. If he were expected to play more this season, there would likely have been a lot of excitement for him in fantasy.

Opportunity arose in the spring for Baldwin as Murphy went down with a fractured rib that sidelined him for the first month. On the surface, Baldwin was solid but didn't take full advantage of that opportunity for extended playing time in March and April, hitting .250 with a .731 OPS.

However, he was almost comedically unlucky in his first few weeks to the point it seemed like a hazing ritual.

Drake Baldwin batted balls exit velocities:

103.7 MPH (Robbed HR)
96.4 MPH
99.1 MPH
101.6 MPH
109.6 MPH
71.4MPH
80.8 MPH
98.9MPH
103.0 MPH (Robbed HR)
83.9 MPH
71.1 MPH
100.4 MPH
102.1 MPH
98.7 MPH
98.7 MPH

He is 1-20. Has anyone started a career with less luck? pic.twitter.com/BAAzKTTf7Y

— Jonathan Fletcher (@Jnfltch) April 5, 2025

Positive regression has hit in a massive way for Baldwin as his excellent quality of contact and solid approach at the plate have resulted in big offensive stats. For the season, he's hitting .340 with five home runs and a 156 WRC+. His walk rate is down from his minor league numbers, but he's only striking out 14.4 percent of the time, and his Baseball Savant page is very red.

Baldwin has been so impressive so far this season, he appears to have usurped Murphy as the Braves' primary catcher for the time being. On a per-plate appearance basis, he's looking like one of the best offensive catchers in the sport.

His playing time is a bit of a question mark as the Braves are unlikely to just not play Murphy given his pedigree and contract, and Ozuna is locked into their everyday lineup at DH. He also doesn't have much room for error if he were to go through a slump.

Given the rising floor at the catcher position, fantasy managers may be wary of depending on one with his playing time risk. However, I'm betting on the talent we're seeing from Baldwin as a starting-caliber option in all formats.

Logan O'Hoppe, Los Angeles Angels

Logan O'Hoppe is testing the limits on how bad your plate approach can be if you hit the crap out of the ball when you make contact.

He has hit for a good amount of power and has struck out a lot in prior MLB seasons. However, he has taken this extreme hitting approach to new levels in 2025.

O'Hoppe is striking out 33.3 percent of the time while only walking 4.1 percent of the time. However, his quality of contact has been fantastic, resulting in him already having 14 HRs.

O'Hoppe's batting average is unlikely to remain as high as it currently is at .272, given his K-rate. However, he should continue to cause damage as long as his quality of contact remains this optimized. He's pulling the ball in the air at an elite 27.4 percent of the time. Matching that with his ability to barrel up the ball will result in a lot of HRs.

Running From The OPS had a great thread discussing his breakout season.

Logan O’Hoppe is Putting Together A Monster Offensive Season

A Thread🪡🧵#RepTheHalo pic.twitter.com/imOq3ilL6v

— Running From The OPS (@OPS_BASEBALL) May 26, 2025

I apologize to whoever I heard made this reference, but a great call for what we can expect for O'Hoppe going forward is a Cal Raleigh-lite fantasy profile.

Hunter Goodman, Colorado Rockies

Basically, everything that can go wrong for the Rockies this season has gone wrong. One of the few bright spots on the roster has been the development of Hunter Goodman.

Goodman has been a popular fantasy breakout candidate for a while, as he has combined many factors to be extremely valuable in fantasy if he could be "actually good". In previous years, he was a catcher eligible player playing a lot in the outfield, and of course, he gets to play half of his games at Coors Field.

Goodman also put up big numbers in the minors, especially in the power department, as he hit 70 HRs in the minors between the 2022 and 2023 seasons. However, he's had an underwhelming major league career up until this year, with a career BA below .200 while displaying some pop in his bat.

This year, he's tossed out the outfield glove as he's only caught and DH'd so far this season. Maybe not being a utility player and focusing on one position has helped his bat, as he's having the best offensive season of his career by a wide margin.

He's batting .275 with seven HRs, good for a 103 WRC+. While he has improved his K-rate to 24.9 percent this season, and his quality of contact metrics are slightly better across the board, the expected stats for Goodman are still a little bleak, as his xBA and xwOBA are both in the bottom 25 percent of qualified hitters.

Is this the best version of Hunter Goodman we've seen in the majors? Absolutely. Am I buying him as a breakout? Not really. But he's going to play a lot (what other options do the Rockies have) in Coors Field. I'd be fine taking the 'start him while he's hot' approach with Goodman, but I'd keep my eyes open for more sustainable options.

Agustin Ramirez, Miami Marlins

Prior to his call-up, Agustin Ramirez was a popular inclusion in my prospects to stash series this season. The centerpiece of the Jazz Chisholm trade package has been a feature in the heart of their lineup for the last month.

While Ramirez has not always been super high on real-life prospect lists due to question marks regarding his defense behind the plate, his fantasy upside has been on display in the minors for years. In 2024, across Double-A and Triple-A, Ramirez had 25 HRs and 22 SBs to go along with a 134 WRC+.

He's only shown half of his power-speed profile so far in the majors with six HRs and only one stolen base, so his willingness to steal will be something to monitor going forward.

Agustin Ramirez launches his sixth home run of the season. Already his 16th extra-base hit

He made his Major League debut less than a month ago. pic.twitter.com/qmlu3vlqny

— Isaac Azout (@IsaacAzout) May 19, 2025

Along with displaying impressive power, Ramirez has also shown a solid approach at the plate. He's only striking out 17.1 percent of the time while walking 8.5 percent of the time. These two factors are allowing him to have a 121 WRC+ despite a .247 BABIP.

Ramirez's combination of power, solid average, and prospect pedigree makes him a solid backend starting option in most fantasy leagues. If he starts running like he did in the minors, he could be a J.T. Realmuto-like fantasy option in the future, making him a top option at the position.

Carlos Narvaez, Boston Red Sox

Going into Monday's action, the top two catchers in baseball by fWAR were Cal Raleigh and Will Smith. The third-ranked catcher in fWAR? Carlos Narvaez. I feel like no one outside of Boston cares about this except me, as I've heard him get very little attention in real baseball and fantasy baseball circles.

While his high fWAR total is boosted by his strong defense behind the plate (which we don't care about for fantasy), Narvaez also has a 137 WRC+, the fifth highest among catchers with at least 100 PAs. He's also hitting .299 with five HRs on the season so far.

Narvaez is due for some negative regression due to his .372 BABIP and the fact that he's outperforming his xwOBA by 33 points. However, there is an interesting profile developing here. He's hitting the ball hard with an 81st percentile Avg. EV of 91.7 mph and a 78th percentile barrel rate of 13.1 percent.

He's also doing his best Isaac Paredes impersonation by pulling the ball in the air at a high rate of 21.2 percent, aiming for the Green Monster as often as possible.

I understand the skepticism around Narvaez. He doesn't have much prospect pedigree, and the Yankees basically gave him to their dreaded rivals this offseason for free. However, the Red Sox are believing in him, giving him the lion's share of playing time behind the dish and moving him up to the clean-up spot in the order with Alex Bregman out of the lineup.

I'm believing in him too (to an extent). He doesn't have the highest upside but is a very solid target for two-catcher, AL-only, and deep one-catcher formats.

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