Fantasy Baseball > 2017 Rankings > Catchers
2017 Fantasy Catcher RankingsFantasy Baseball Brass' annual, expert review of the best fantasy Catchers, refreshed again in 2017 for your Fantasy Draft. Expert advice, in-depth stats analysis, sleepers, predictions and projections of the best Catchers in baseball so you can dominate your draft... again.
Who's the Best Fantasy Catcher for 2017?
Man oh man, what an immediate impact Gary Sanchez had on the Yankees last season, and he had an even bigger impact on fantasy owners who picked him up last season, too. But was it a large enough sampling of data to put Gary Sanchez at the top of your fantasy Catchers list or was he a fluke? To make this easy right out of the gates, if you're in a keeper league with the first overall pick and Buster Posey is already gone, you need to grab Gary Sanchez immediately in your draft as there is no better potential for any possibly-available fantasy player, let alone a hard-to-fill Catcher spot. If your situation is right, get Gary Sanchez. If your situation is different (which is probably 99% of the rest of us), check out our annual fantasy Catcher Rankings, updated for 2017.
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Fantasy Catcher Rankings for 2017
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Could Gary Sanchez Be Worth a #1 Pick?The quick answer is yes. The logical answer is probably not, but if you take him #1 - and we mean overall, not just as a catcher - you could be getting 40+ Home Runs and 100 RBI out of a .290 hitting Catcher. Pacing his stats out to 542 at bats last season (the same number of at bats that Buster Posey had), you're looking at 54 HR, 113 RBI, and 92 Runs. However... he also paces out to a total of 154 strikeouts. Not unthinkable by today's standards, but it does make him prone to streaks and slumps. Still, we project Gary Sanchez to hit 30+ HR while scoring 80 Runs and driving in anywhere from 70-90 RBI.
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What About Jonathan Lucroy (#3)? |
Evan Gattis is Ranked #5? Really? |
Our only significant fears with Lucroy are injuries and age, and those two issues aren't necessarily independent of one another. He turns 31 in June (which is about 38 in Catcher years) and, believe it or not, he doesn't see a lot of time at DH. Last season, he only played DH 3 times, and that was when he was in the National League with the Brewers, still! He played ZERO games at DH in the AL with the Rangers. His backup at Catcher is Robinson Chirinos, so we don't expect Lucroy to see much time at DH or at first base, either. He played in a total of 142 games last season, and his 24 HR was a career high. Still, the Rangers have a solid lineup, so e think 20 HR and 80 RBI is well within reach for Lucroy, so long as he stays healthy again this season.
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That's right, Evan Gattis is the #5 ranked fantasy Catcher in 2017. "But what about Brian McCann being the Catcher in Houston?" What about it? Remember, Gattis qualifies at Catcher and he's going to be DHing a bunch while McCann does the hard work behind the plate. More rest and less stress for Gattis will likely mean more-consistent fantasy stats output from him in 2017. One thing that makes us nervous about Gattis, honestly, is that Carlos Beltran's old, half-broken ass just showed up in Houston, too, and so did Norichika Aoki. Aoki, however, will not likely end up as a fan favorite in a park full of Texans who love to see baseball jacked to the train tracks above left field, so leaves Gattis with the chance at 400+ at bats with 25+ HR.
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