Mid-Round Catcher (C) Fantasy Baseball Draft Values and Targets in 2025

February 21, 2025

Catcher fantasy baseball sleepers, targets to draft in the mid rounds. Potential 2025 fantasy baseball sleepers and undervalued catchers to target in drafts.

Welcome back to another edition of our 2025 fantasy baseball draft values and target series. Today, we review the catcher position. Elite production from catchers is valuable, but it largely depends on whether your league requires starting one or two backstops. There isn't much depth at the position, which can be an issue in deep league formats.

Here are some middle-round catchers for you to consider drafting in your season-long leagues this season, especially if you are in two-catcher formats. Are their ADPs undervalued? Will they make significant fantasy contributions and become a priority mid-round draft target? Read on to see our take.

Our editors have handpicked these specific MLB players for your draft prep enjoyment. Usually only available to Premium subscribers, the five outlooks below are meant to give you a taste of the in-depth analysis you receive with our industry-leading 2024 Draft Kit. Be sure to subscribe today to start reading all of our in-depth 2025 player outlooks and many other premium articles and tools, including Team Sync, the Live Draft Sync assistant, Custom Rankings Service, and so much more -- available exclusively in our 2025 Draft Kit.

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Shea Langeliers, Athletics

When it comes to catchers, only Cal Raleigh has hit more home runs over the last two seasons than Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers has. In 534 plate appearances last season, Langeliers smacked a career-best 29 home runs while driving in 80 and slashing .224/.288/.450.

Shea Langeliers of the #Athletics is coming a career-best 29 home run season playing in one of the worst hitting parks

Now he plays in a minor league stadium that will boost his power production

After holding a hard-hit rate of at least 44% and barrel rate of at least 13% in… pic.twitter.com/3WVEr3CeL5

— Andy Smith (@A_Smith_FS) January 2, 2025

Sure, that average and OBP are on the lower end, but Langeliers' zone (80.3 percent) and overall (70.8 percent) contact rates weren't terrible, and he'll be moving to a better hitter's park in Sacramento in 2025. The average and OBP will likely never be impactful, but it wouldn't surprise me to see Langeliers increase the average to the .240 range to pair with around 25 home runs again.

The power breakout over the last two seasons is backed up by a barrel rate above 12 percent, AVG EV above 90 mph, and a hard-hit rate above 44 percent in both 2023 and 2024.

-- Eric Cross - RotoBaller

Logan O'Hoppe, Los Angeles Angels

As someone who followed Logan O'Hoppe through his time in the minor leagues, he's become a different player than expected. O'Hoppe has become more aggressive in the majors and finished 2024 with a 6.3 percent walk rate and a 29.7 percent strikeout rate, both worse than the major league average.

But at the same time, O'Hoppe has shown that he can be one of the top power bats at the catcher position with a 12 percent barrel rate, 90.4 mph AVG EV, 46.3 percent hard-hit rate, and 20 home runs in 522 plate appearances last season.

Logan O'Hoppe - LAA

Key Stat: 42.9 SwSp%

O'Hoppe's batted ball data is absolutely elite. If he could slightly improve the strikeout and walk rates we can see him turn into one of the top offensive catchers in the sport. pic.twitter.com/UX0ZELnLC1

— Data Driven Stats (@mlb_advanced3) February 20, 2025

Given his aggressive approach and below-average contact rates, O'Hoppe might stay down in the .240-.250 range, but he could still provide top-10 value at the catcher position if he's also providing more than 20 home runs. ATC projections are on board with O'Hoppe mashing 20 long balls, predicting the 25-year-old to hit 22 home runs in 2025.

-- Eric Cross - RotoBaller

Will Smith, Los Angeles Dodgers

Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith has been one of the most consistent catchers in fantasy baseball over the last four seasons. He's averaged 130 games and 22 home runs a year since 2021. Smith also has a robust .257/.348/.456 slash line over the last four years.

Only two catchers have hit more home runs than Smith since 2021 and the Dodgers backstop ranks in the top five for wOBA (.346) and wRC+ (121) among qualified catchers in that time. Smith has taken a slight step back over the last two seasons but was still a top-5 option at the position last year.

Smith will be an integral part of an elite offense in 2025 so should be a significant contributor to RBI and runs. With Shohei Ohtani playing exclusively as the Dodgers' Designated Hitter (DH) last year, there may be some additional playing time open to Smith as a DH in 2025.

With four consecutive seasons of 500+ plate appearances under his belt, if Smith can return to the ~25 home run hitter he was in 2021 and 2022 then we should see Smith end the season as a top-three catcher.

-- Jamie Steed- RotoBaller

Gabriel Moreno, Arizona Diamondbacks

Many baseball fans will remember Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Gabriel Moreno's playoff heroics in 2023 when he hit four home runs in just 70 plate appearances. Always an elite bat-to-ball hitter, Moreno unfortunately has never consistently accessed that kind of game power in the regular season (13 HR in 804 plate appearances).

He hits a ton of grounders (52.7 percent career) and has never had an average launch angle above 8.8 degrees. That's the bad. The good: Moreno hits the ball fairly hard (90 mph avg. EV, 41 percent hard-hit rate), makes contact at elite rates (83.5 percent last year), does not chase (26.5 percent) or whiff much (6.8 percent SwStr%), and has great patience (11.7 percent walk rate).

Gabriel Moreno has as many batted balls hit 108 mph or higher this spring(7) as he did all last year. The biggest positive is the average launch angle on those balls is 13 degrees. pic.twitter.com/LO0TbqULXH

— Chris Clegg (@ChrisCleggMiLB) March 11, 2025

He's a career .280 hitter and has even sprinkled in a few steals at times. Moreno's also a great defender (+10 defensive runs saved last season), so he should get consistent at-bats. ATC projects him for a .277 average with nine homers and five steals over 452 PA. That makes Moreno a rare later-round pick who adds positive value to the batting average -- even rarer coming from the catcher position.

Moreno's hit tool and defense give him a solid floor for fantasy as a second catcher in rotisserie leagues. There is even some upside here if Moreno, still just 24 years old, can add some loft to his swing and access his power more often in games.

-- Michael Cecchini - RotoBaller

Will Smith, Los Angeles Dodgers

Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith has been one of the most consistent catchers in fantasy baseball over the last four seasons. He's averaged 130 games and 22 home runs a year since 2021. Smith also has a robust .257/.348/.456 slash line over the last four years.

Only two catchers have hit more home runs than Smith since 2021 and the Dodgers backstop ranks in the top five for wOBA (.346) and wRC+ (121) among qualified catchers in that time. Smith has taken a slight step back over the last two seasons but was still a top-5 option at the position last year.

Smith will be an integral part of an elite offense in 2025 so should be a significant contributor to RBI and runs. With Shohei Ohtani playing exclusively as the Dodgers' Designated Hitter (DH) last year, there may be some additional playing time open to Smith as a DH in 2025.

With four consecutive seasons of 500+ plate appearances under his belt, if Smith can return to the ~25 home run hitter he was in 2021 and 2022 then we should see Smith end the season as a top-three catcher.

-- Jamie Steed  - RotoBaller

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