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Michael Griffin recommends catchers (C) who can be valuable waiver wire targets or adds to help fantasy owners for Week 5 of the 2017 fantasy baseball season.
We're in May now... though it would have been hard to convince the people of Colorado, who were digging out of a late April blizzard. It feels like a lot of the catchers are buried under that snow, because the pickings are very slim. It's tough, because it seems like a catcher will get hot for a bit, and then get hurt. It always seems to happen right after you pick them up and you wind up looking like this when you view your lineup the next day:
It took Travis d'Arnaud a ridiculously short time to get to the league lead in RBI for catchers. He's hurt now. Tony Wolters is second in runs among backstops. He got conked on the head by a Manuel Margot backswing and is out for at least the next week, maybe even longer, depending on how he fares with his concussion. It's not good to be a catcher. We're in May now and not a single one of them is in double-digits in homers. Maybe the Yankees could make Aaron Judge a catcher...
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10-12 Team League Catcher Pickups
The gulf between the 50% Yahoo! ownership cut-off grows wider. There's a 21% gap between Welington Castillo at 57% and Austin Hedges at 36%, which just goes to show you how bad it is out there. We'll do our best to help you tiptoe through this minefield.
Here are some catcher waiver wire pickups for Week 5, 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.
Stephen Vogt (OAK) - 31% owned
There's a line in Pink Floyd's "Time": "Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way." Well, the same could be said here of picking these catchers. Stephen Vogt may be sitting a bit more often and he's still hitting a few pounds below his weight, but we still have a feeling that he's going to get going at some point in the season. We'd prefer it be May and not September, though.
Jason Castro (MIN) - 12% owned
Jason Castro has struggled some with his batting average, but that hardly makes him much different than other backstops this season. He has homered twice in his past ten games. That makes him positively Ruthian among his peers. He's also driven in three RBI and scored twice in that span. Keep giving him a shot - he may reward you sooner than later.
Alex Avila (DET) - 22% Owned
Alex Avila is considered the best-ranked catcher on Yahoo! right now. His .409/4/12 line in only 44 at-bats has impressed the rankers there. It is quite a good start for him and he might be able to wrest more playing time away from James McCann - though McCann's .155 batting average is NOT making it a competition right now.
Two-Catcher League Pickups
Austin Hedges (SDP) - 31% owned
Yes, Hedges has driven in seven RBI over the past 10 games, but five of them came in two games. His bat seems to be going back to sleep, power-wise. With his .193 batting average, he's just shown himself to be way too streaky to be considered anything other than a two-catcher pick. If a whole slew of backstops find themselves on the disabled list, then he might merit a bump up.
Jett Bandy (MIL) - 12% owned
While Jett Bandy might not be playing every day, he certainly does hit when he's in the lineup. He's hitting a robust .333 and he has four home runs, which still puts him among the leaders for catchers. Bandy hasn't hit any over the fence lately, but he's someone who will still help you in a two-catcher league.
Manny Pina (MIL) - 8% owned
No, we haven't lost our minds here when we're recommending two Milwaukee catchers. We're not drunk either, though the production from all the backstops combined has made us consider going to a bar. Manny Pina is having a fine season so far, hitting .385 in nearly the same amount of at-bats as Bandy. He's got less power, but he's only scored one fewer run and driven in two fewer RBI. He'd be a fine two-catcher pick.
