RADIO
The first two months of the 2013 fantasy baseball season are complete, and we've gotten a good look at which players are establishing themselves as contributors and which guys are struggling. Every month, RotoBaller will update our original preseason rankings at every position. For June, we are starting again with backstops, which was the first position we published in the preseason and then again after the first month. All the ranks below are compared to the FantasyPros ECR (Expert Consensus Rank), which will show you where RotoBaller differs with the expert community and by how much. Check out our tier-by-tier analysis below the rankings, and let us know where you agree or disagree with us!
Fantasy Baseball Rankings powered by FantasyPros
Tier 1: No changes in this tier. These catchers are the best of the best at the position. Sure, you’d like to see more HR and RBI from Joe Mauer, but he leads all catchers in runs scored thanks to an OBP north of .400. You could make the argument that Yadier Molina deserves to be ranked a bit higher and I wouldn't disagree with you if it were jsut a matter of skill, but again, Mauer and Santana benefit from more at-bats by getting starts at 1B and DH in the American League.
Tier 2: Figures. I hyped Jonathan Lucroy last month for not getting enough fantasy recognition and then he stinks up the joint in May. He moves down a few spots in the rankings, but I’m not abandoning hope on him just yet. I still think Lucroy could finish as a top-10 catcher. Brian McCann climbs up a full tier thanks to a display of power fresh off the DL. I doubt he will continue to hit a home run every ten or so at bats, plus Evan Gattis still looms, but it’s nice to see McCann producing at near-elite levels again.
Tier 3: Here are your fringe #1 catchers in 12-team leagues that only start one at the position. Yasmani Grandal is back from suspension and joins this tier. Let’s see if he can build off his success from last season sans PEDs. For some reason, I didn't have Russell Martin ranked in the last update, and the June ranks correct this oversight. Ryan Doumit had a dreadful April but he was very productive in May, with all of his home runs and most of his RBI coming during the month. I’ll give Evan Gattis credit: he has been red hot lately even with McCann back in the fold. Jarrod Saltalamacchia did not produce exceptional home run or RBI totals during the month of May, but he did uncharacteristically hit over .280; Salty is dreadful against lefties, but still has 20+ HR power. Jason Castro won an AL Player of the Week award in May, which was good enough to debut him in this tier-- I think he could have some staying power too. As for John Buck? He is proving to be who we thought he was before the season started. In last month’s rankings update, I advised you to take what you could get from Buck and I hope you listened. After hitting 9 home runs and driving in 25 runs in April, Buck was ice cold in May with just 2 home runs and 10 RBI. Alex Avila was even worse and dropped out of this tier completely.
Tier 4: This is a group of catchers who could be in Tier 3, but will have to stop under-performing or work their way back from injury to get there. The Jesus Montero demotion was a wake up call. He should be back later this year... right?
Tier 5: None of these options are rosterable outside of two-catcher or league-only formats.
Tier 6: Stash if you have the room.
