June 22, 2017

Michael Griffin recommends catchers (C) who can be valuable waiver wire targets or adds to help fantasy owners for Week 12 of the 2017 fantasy baseball season.

Don't adjust your laptops, tablets or phones. There wasn't a Week 11 Catchers column, but I'm here for Week 12. I'm looking forward to helping you pick out some catchers who can boost your -- HEY! Wake up! It hasn't been THAT long since the last one:

As for catchers who still high ownership numbers, if people pay attention to what's being written about him on here, Kyle Schwarber's stock might sink some more. Then again, people are desperate for ANY kind of things at the catcher position, so it's highly unlikely that he'll fall too far, sub-.200 batting average and all.

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10-12 Team League Catcher Pickups

June is all about graduations. We've had one catcher move up this list: Alex Avila. He's at 56% ownership in Yahoo! leagues, which means he's not going to be listed this week. Sniff. I'm so proud of him. Keep it up!

Here are some catcher waiver wire pickups for Week 10, to consider adding to your teams. We'll show you three players to snag in 10-12 player leagues, and also three to look out for in two-catcher leagues. All of these players are just at or below 50% ownership in Yahoo! fantasy leagues.

Mike Zunino  (SEA) - 47% owned

After a tepid April and May, Mike Zunino has heated up like much of the country. His ownership numbers have shot up accordingly - hitting five homers and garnering 13 RBI over the span of 10 games will do that, especially at an offense-starved position like catcher. Jump in on the act. If this were a TV show, he'd be the star of Everybody Loves Zunino.

Russell Martin (TOR) - 41% owned 

Russell Martin is still showing signs of life, power-wise. He hit two homers over the course of his past 10 games. Although he's been dropped by a few people, Toronto is still running him out there nearly every day, and I'm always an optimist. He's also still among the leaders in catchers in runs. There's a chance that he could still break out. You'd love to reap those benefits if he does.

Wilson Ramos (TB) 25% owned

There's momentum building for people picking up Wilson Ramos, since fantasy owners are anticipating his being activated by Tampa Bay on June 25. They are looking for an oasis in this catching desert, and any chance to add a catcher who was hitting over .300 and had 22 homers before his injury is one well worth taking.

Two-Catcher League Pickups

Austin Hedges (SDP) - 22% owned

It's been a weird year for Austin Hedges. He took forever to get his first hit of the season and then he's been one of the more productive backstops, power-wise, though those come in spurts. His low batting average is proof of that. Now he's coming back from getting hit by a Mack Truck named Anthony Rizzo. He got a badly bruised hip from that ordeal, and while he's coming back after a day's rest, you have to worry about injuries to an area that can help generate power. He's still a two-catcher pick.

Tony Wolters (COL) - 3% owned

Tony Wolters continues to score runs. He's fourth among backstops and he's shown no signs of slowing down in that area. You're going to have to pick and choose what categories you need help with if you're in a two-catcher league and he'll definitely continue to give you a shot in the arm with those runs.

Robinson Chirinos (TEX) - 1% owned

Robinson Chirinos is this week's winner of the "Why The Heck Not?" award. He's making the most of his time when he gets to start, bashing eight homers and staying in the thick of things in the runs and RBI category. He's gone deep three times in his last 10 starts, and his stats match up with Jonathan Lucroy, who is owned by MANY more people than him.

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