Welcome to the war room. We’re investigating which deeper catchers could turn a nice profit for only the savviest of fantasy owners going into 2016.

Catcher is an extremely volatile position, with most of them putting their bodies through the ringer during the course of the season. It isn’t a particular deep position, but rest assured we can find some treasure here. ADPs utilized are according to NFBC draft data.

Editor's note: You can find more draft values and potential sleepers in our running list all preseason long, and be sure to also check out our rankings dashboard which is loaded with lots of great analysis.

 

Deeper Catcher Draft Sleepers

Nick Hundley – ADP: 228

We’ll start this off with a guy who may be on a few of your radars, but is still being scoffed at when his name is mentioned. I mean, the guy plays at Coors Field and yet isn’t being trumped up so he can’t be good, right? Hundley caught 102 games for the Rockies last year, putting up a line that might catch your eye as you scroll through the draft room – 45 runs, 10 home runs, 43 RBIs, and a .301 average.

Okay, slow your roll on any delusions of grandeur about stealing a .300 average this late because his home BABIP was a wild .396 (.355 BA). This doesn’t mean he can’t be more than serviceable though, and he should be able to hit around the .270s while not being a power drain. Coors does help, if you can make a platoon with another catcher and only play Hundley at home, you could really lock up some great numbers out of your C slot while others flounder with Yadier Molina.

Robinson Chirinos – ADP: 320

Chirinos looks to be in the catbird seat as far as the job for starting Texas Rangers’ catcher goes. He isn’t going to turn into anything different as far as his average goes, his batting profile doesn’t call for anything higher than the .230s, but that is because of his upper cut swing. He does strike out a lot (22.7% last year), but he did take a big step forward with drawing walks (10.3% last year, compared to 5% in 2014). As such, in OBP leagues he should prove to be a little more palatable compared to BA leagues.

The aforementioned upper cut swing does yield results, as he hit 10 homers in 273 plate appearances last year, and 13 HRs in 338 PAs in 2014. A strain in his left shoulder essentially ended his season at the end of July, but if he were get a full season’s worth of work in as the starting catcher for Texas then 15 homers should be quite realistic. In deeper leagues this could prove to be a nice difference maker.

Dioner Navarro – ADP: 366

Navarro is a sneaky option that should be available extremely late who could provide value. He’s got double-digit power, but he’s also 32 this year and doesn’t have a full-time gig right now. The White Sox seem to have brought him and Alex Avila in to form a platoon, with Navarro handling lefties (he’s a career .270 hitter vs. LHP and .249 vs. RHP).

Of course lefties are the less frequent opponent, but there’s also the matter of Alex Avila being pretty darn bad in his own right. There’s a non-zero chance that Navarro usurps some of those starts against righties if Avila continues his downward spiral (yes, he is better against righties than lefties, but is still bad).

Do keep in mind, Avila has a history of concussions. Catcher is not a friendly position for head trauma. And even if Navarro can't supplant Avila, he may wiggle into the designated hitter role if Adam LaRoche has another terrible season.

Caleb Joseph – ADP: 371

This is a pick for those in deep leagues who either want to handcuff their own Matt Wieters share, or are banking on Wieters getting hurt or failing to live up to his reputation. Joseph’s own bat has value in its pop, as he hit 11 homers in 355 plate appearances last year while Wieters was out. His average is blah, and it isn’t going to climb anytime soon from the .230 range. He’s your typical lumbering catcher who just tries to put the bat on the ball with authority.

In 2014 he posted a pitch value of -7.1 on fastballs, which he was able to bring up to -1.5 last year. In other words, he hit fastballs better. He also improved his walk rate and cut down on strikeouts. He’ll be 30 in only his third year of major league ball, but it's encouraging to see a few modest steps forward. You’re primarily getting him for the power he can provide should the opportunity for playing time arise.

Curt Casali – ADP: 415

This is a fun one, as Casali put together an intriguing campaign in a very limited 2015 showing. He didn’t have a powerful bat in the minors, yet he hit 10 home runs in just 113 plate appearances for the Rays last year. That will make the ears perk up. Tampa Bay brought in Hank Conger to join Casali and Rene Rivera as their catchers heading into this year, but Casali has certainly shown the most with the bat out of the trio.

He had a wild 32.3% HR/FB rate, but no one expects him to have a 50 home run season. Behind the HR/FB rate was a sick 31.9% hard hit rate and he only registered soft contact on 10.1% of balls in play. Couple that with pulling the ball 50.1% of the time and you’ve got positive indicators of him squaring up the ball like a grown man.

If he starts the year with the same power stroke then he should easily command the majority of ABs behind the dish, leaving you making a few bucks out of nothing. We have to keep expectations tempered as the sample size here is frighteningly small, but at his NFBC ADP of 415, I’m perfectly comfortable with rolling those dice. That points to him being sandwiched between Kurt Suzuki and Carlos Perez as far as catchers go, and I’d much rather shoot for his upside.

 

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