May 11, 2017

Michael Griffin recommends catchers (C) who can be valuable waiver wire targets or adds to help fantasy owners for Week 6 of the 2017 fantasy baseball season.

The state of fantasy baseball catchers is pretty dismal. How bad is it? The catching leaders in both home runs and RBIs have half of what the Major League leaders have in those categories. It's not only that, it's that they are so SLOW in getting these numbers.  The rest of your lineup may be performing well, but when it comes to tracking catcher performances, it leaves you waiting like this:

How sluggish is the progress? You know serial comics like "Rex Morgan, MD" and "Mary Worth", where a storyline can take over three months? That's because each strip is usually two panels, the first one usually being a rehash of the second panel from the previous day. So, a "Good morning? How was your night's sleep?" conversation can take a week. That's what monitoring these catchers' stats feels like. "Wait! He got a homer... but none of the other catchers did. Sigh."

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10-12 Team League Catcher Pickups

We're eternal optimists here at RotoBaller, though. Even as dismal as catcher has been this season, we always believe that there's a turnaround waiting to happen... any... day... now. OK, we might get a little down if things are still this rough in July. Still, we'll do our best to make sure that you're well set at the backstop position by then.

Here are some catcher waiver wire pickups for Week 6, 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.
Russell Martin (TOR) - 48% owned 

Here's a good chance to get Russell Martin before he bounces back up over the 50% ownership mark. The Blue Jays backstop is on the 10-Day disabled list over left shoulder irritation. If the rest winds up rejuvenating him, then he could be quite effective for the rest of the season. You could stash him on your disabled list until his return, which shouldn't take too long.

Alex Avila (DET) - 31% Owned

Alex Avila hasn't been hitting the ball that hard over his past 10 games, not notching a homer since late April, but he's been driving in runs, knocking in at least one RBI in seven of those 10 games. He's also scored six times in that same timeframe, so he's going to help you in more ways than one. You're looking at a very limited field here, so if you can find someone like him, why not take a shot?

Stephen Vogt (OAK) - 28% owned

Former player/now announcer Keith Hernandez wrote one of the best baseball books I've ever read. It was called "If At First", and there was a chapter in it called, "In a Deep, Dark Forest", and it chronicled one of the worst slumps of his career. Stephen Vogt must feel like he's in a forest of his own, and all the trees are Sequoias. There was a bit of hope when his average went up to .222 on May 4, but he's struggled again. Still, he could help you a lot if he turns it around.

Two-Catcher League Pickups

Austin Hedges (SDP) - 24% owned

Like his bat, Austin Hedges' ownership numbers have started to take a downward dip. They perked up a bit with his strong week and a half, but they've dipped since then. Some people like him as a temporary replacement for the injured Martin, but he's going to have to hit above his weight to get even some consideration as a No. 1 catcher. He's still a No. 2 backstop.

Jett Bandy  (MIL) - 12% owned

Jett Bandy is living up to his first name in one way, at least. He's got a stolen base, which is more than J.T. Realmuto can say. Bandy has six RBI and scored five runs in his last 10 games, so he's showing that he could help you in more than one way. There's a decided dearth of stolen bases in the catcher's category, so if he gets one or two more, he could definitely declare himself a speed burner on the basepaths. For now, he's more of a motorized scooter than a "Jet."

Robinson Chirinos (TEX) - 3% owned

It's looking like Robinson Chirinos might wind up being this year's Yasmani Grandal. The guy has a good chance of hitting the ball out of the park when he plays. He's got five dingers and he's only had 34 at-bats at the time of this writing. That's a pretty good homer-to-at-bat ratio, wouldn't you say? He's worth a look in a two-catcher league, for sure, and he if he keeps this up, he could make a lot of owners happy. Now, he just has to stay healthy.

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