2023 Dynasty Catcher Rankings

Once a position lacking excitement, the catcher position is now one of my favorites to dive into for rankings purposes. Sure, it’s still behind the other offensive positions as a whole, but this position is firmly on the rise with a seemingly endless amount of young talent that has either already debuted recently or will in the next season or two. Leading the way in my 2023 Dynasty Catcher Rankings is a rookie for 2022 followed by a pair of power/speed threats and baseball’s Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

Player Notes

• It’s not often that a rookie ascends to the top of a position’s rankings, but that’s exactly what happened in 2022 with Adley Rutschman. Even before he debuted, Rutschman slithered his way up into the top 5 at this position thanks to his immense upside and high floor. Both of which shined through once he got his feet wet at the Major League level. After June 15th, Rutschman was one of the best catchers in baseball, ranking highly across the board offensively, including being in the top 2 for OBP, runs, wOBA, and wRC+.

Adley Rutschman smashes a game-tying home run for the @Orioles: pic.twitter.com/AILw4sQaQ5

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) July 16, 2022

• After Rutschman, you could rank the next trio of Will Smith, Daulton Varsho, and J.T. Realmuto in any order and I’d have no issues with it. Realmuto is coming off just the second 20/20 season for a catcher in the history of baseball (Ivan Rodriguez), but is the oldest of this bunch by about four years and will be 32 next season. I’m not expecting a dropoff per say, but the age gap puts him 4th for me. The top blend of age and upside has to go to Varsho who just put up a 27-homer, 16-steal campaign, albeit, with a .235 AVG. Given what he showed in the minors, I’m expecting the AVG to tick up a bit, and the power/speed blend is legit. Let’s just hope he can maintain catcher eligibility for a few more seasons. Lastly, Smith has to be the safest of the group, and that’s no knock to his upside either. Smith has settled in as a .260/25 bat that can flirt with a .350+ OBP and 150+ R/RBI annually while hitting in the middle of one of baseball’s top lineups.
• You’ll probably notice that William Contreras is high, nearly as high as his accomplished older brother. After the top six, that’s where this position can divert several different ways. For me, I’m enamored with the blend of skills, performance, and age that Contreras brings to the table. Pound for pound, he was one of the top offensive catchers in 2022, finishing with a .278/.354/.506 slash line in 376 PA to go along with 20 home runs, a 46.6% hard-hit rate, and a 13.4% barrel rate. And now additional playing time has opened up with Contreras heading to Milwaukee after a three-team trade with Atlanta and Oakland.

• One that will likely have a wide range of rankings this offseason is MJ Melendez. Since debuting as a prospect back in 2017, Melendez’s career has been (Insert Ozzy voice) GOING OFF THE RAILS LIKE A CRAZY TRAIN! Now, that obviously doesn’t mean it’s been all bad, but there have certainly been immense peaks and values, mainly in 2019 and 2021. Even Melendez’s 2022 Major League debut followed this path. But with that said, Melendez is a prime rebound/breakout candidate in 2023 with the new shift rule. Opposing teams shifted against Melendez around 80% of the time last season and his BABIP with the shift (.203) and without a shift (.412) were worlds apart. Do I expect him to jump up a tier? No. But Melendez could settle in into the 8-12 range at this position long-term.
• Another member of these rankings that will be switching teams is Sean Murphy. The longtime Oakland backstop enjoyed the best season of his career in 2022, and was especially hot down the stretch with a .278/.366/.462 slash line after June 1st. Getting out of Oakland is definitely a boost to his value as Murphy slashed just .212/.318/.366 in his career at home versus .257/.335/.485 on the road. Given Murphy’s underlying contact and power metrics, I see no reason why that road slash line can’t become the norm for Murphy moving forward. He’s consistently posted zone contact rates above 80%, barrel rates above 10%, and hard-hit rates above 40% while not whiffing too much and trimming his strikeout rate to 20.4% in 2022. This looks like the profile of a top-10 catcher moving forward. Well, at least until the kids are ready.

I really don't see why Sean Murphy can't stick as a top 10 catcher moving forward.

Career Splits
Home: 611 PA, .212/.318/.366, .154 ISO
Road: 649 PA, .257/.335/.485, .228 ISO

Solid contact & power metrics w/ a much better lineup around him. Trimmed K rate too.#FantasyBaseball pic.twitter.com/nTPWl4rWTA

— Eric Cross (@EricCross04) December 13, 2022

• Cal Raleigh was a hard one to rank. One one side of the profile we have big-time power that translated to 27 home runs in just 415 plate appearances with a 15.4% barrel rate and 43.5% hard-hit rate. But outside of the power, Raleigh hit just .211 with a .284 OBP, 29.4% strikeout rate, 32.1% whiff rate, and a 75.4% zone contact rate. This type of low AVG/good power profile is risky to roster, even at the catcher position. Could he repeat this production in 2023? Sure. But I’ll be looking elsewhere.
• Last but not least, I wouldn’t count out guys like Keibert Ruiz or Luis Campusano just yet. The duo has had a rough go of it at the Major League level but showed plenty of potential with the bat coming up through the minors. Both are solid buy-low targets in deeper dynasty leagues.
• If you’re looking for notes on the prospects included in these rankings, you can find those in my Top 30 Catcher Prospect Rankings.

2023 Dynasty Catcher Rankings

Rank	Player	Team	Age
TIER 1
1	Adley Rutschman	BAL	24.9
2	Daulton Varsho	ARI	26.5
3	Will Smith	LAD	27.8
4	J.T. Realmuto	PHI	31.8
5	Alejandro Kirk	TOR	24.2
TIER 2
6	Willson Contreras	STL	30.7
7	William Contreras	MIL	25
8	Salvador Perez	KCR	32.7
9	Francisco Alvarez	NYM	21.1
10	Endy Rodriguez	PIT	22.6
11	MJ Melendez	KCR	24.1
12	Sean Murphy	ATL	28.2
13	Tyler Stephenson	CIN	26.4
TIER 3
14	Harry Ford	SEA	19.9
15	Logan O'Hoppe	LAA	22.9
16	Bo Naylor	CLE	22.9
17	Austin Wells	NYY	23.5
18	Tyler Soderstrom	OAK	21.1
19	Gabriel Moreno	TOR	22.9
20	Diego Cartaya	LAD	21.3
21	Yainer Diaz	HOU	24.3
22	Henry Davis	PIT	23.3
TIER 4
23	Cal Raleigh	SEA	26.1
24	Kevin Parada	NYM	21.4
25	Edgar Quero	LAA	19.7
26	Danny Jansen	TOR	27.7
27	Keibert Ruiz	WSH	24.5
28	Shea Langeliers	OAK	25.1
29	Yasmani Grandal	CHW	34.2
30	Dalton Rushing	LAD	21.9
31	Luis Campusano	SDP	24.3
TIER 5
32	Joey Bart	SFG	26.1
33	Travis d'Arnaud	ATL	33.9
34	Jeferson Quero	MIL	20.2
35	Jonah Heim	TEX	27.5
36	Hunter Goodman	COL	23.2
37	Christian Vazquez	MIN	32.4
38	Carson Kelly	ARI	28.5
39	Gary Sanchez	MIN	30.1
40	Mitch Garver	TEX	32

Media Credit: Nick Wosika/Icon Sportswire, MLB Pipeline,