We’re kicking off the Shuffle Up series — my version of tiered rankings — for the new fantasy baseball draft season. The dollar values you’ll see below are unscientific in nature but reflect how I see the clusters of talent at catcher. Use these tiers however you like.
Have some disagreements? Good, that’s why we have a game. I welcome your reasoned disagreement over at X: @scott_pianowski.
Catcher Overview
If you’re playing in a one-catcher format this year, it’s probably a no-sweat, low-stress position. If your league requires more than one backstop, that’s when things get a little complicated.
This is one fantasy position where defensive skill is critical to monitor, because it will add or detract from playing time here more than any other spot.
Let’s sort through the options and set you up with a 2025 plan.
Tier 1: The Big Tickets
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$26 William Contreras
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$23 Adley Rutschman
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$21 Salvador Pérez
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$20 Yainer Diaz
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$20 Cal Raleigh
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$19 Will Smith
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$18 Willson Contreras
Contreras is a perfect answer at catcher, a high-volume player who can legitimately contribute in all five categories, depending on how real those nine stolen bases were a year ago. He’s also entering his prime (age-27 season) and works in a homer-friendly park. The Brewers are happy to DH Contreras when he needs a break from the rigors of defense, so he’ll probably be around 600 at-bats again.
Rutschman had a surprising slump in the final two months and his slash was notably down from his first two seasons. It’s likely a blip and the new dimensions in Baltimore should aid Rutschman when he’s hitting right-handed. Last year’s drop to a .272 BABIP probably explains part of Rutschman’s disappointing season. I’m still happy to bet on the pedigree here and the depth of the lineup.
What Pérez did in his age-34 season was too good to be true — he bumped his walks, cut his strikeouts and made it through 158 games, though many of them were DH assignments after Vinnie Pasquantino got hurt. The age takes a couple of bucks off the Pérez target salary, but for the most part he’s been remarkably durable through his career and the Kansas City lineup has taken a step forward. His runs scored column isn’t as robust as you might expect, but Pérez should return another positive three-category season.
Raleigh is an excellent power source and an outstanding defensive catcher, so his volume is safe and his fantasy floor is sturdy. The surprising six steals could come or go — he showed no interest in that area before 2024. Seattle is a lousy place to hit, so it’s no surprise Raleigh bumped his OPS by 158 points on the road. You’ll have to manage your team’s batting average if Raleigh is one of your early picks.
[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league for the 2025 MLB season]
Tier 2: Reasonable Secondary Options
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$14 J.T. Realmuto
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$13 Logan O’Hoppe
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$12 Shea Langeliers
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$12 Tyler Stephenson
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$11 Sean Murphy
If you’re a believer in contract-year players, you could focus on Realmuto, who needs to show something entering his age-34 season. His OPS+ was barely over league average the last two seasons and his slugging percentage hit a new eight-year low. We also have to wonder if his steals are gone for good — after three straight years of aggressive running, Realmuto was just 2-for-4 on the bases last year, through the 99 games he did play. I’ll probably let market behavior decide the Realmuto case — I might need a one-round discount before I have the nerve to select him.
Stephenson has excellent command of the strike zone, the problem is his batted-ball profile is closer to average. But he’s coming off a career-best 19 homers, Cincinnati is an excellent place to hit and a career year is possible entering an age-28 season. The Reds have also built a deep lineup, one that has the potential to be a top-10 offense.
Tier 3: Talk Them Up, Talk Them Down
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$10 Francisco Alvarez
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$9 Austin Wells
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$8 Connor Wong
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$8 Joey Bart
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$8 Gabriel Moreno
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$7 Ryan Jeffers
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$7 Keibert Ruiz
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$6 Iván Herrera
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$5 Bo Naylor
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$5 Patrick Bailey
Alvarez came into the majors with a sterling offensive reputation and plenty of concerns about his defense. Surprise — his defense has actually been passable, but his offense hasn’t been a treat. Although he made modest improvement in his plate discipline last year, his batted-ball stats were mediocre and his slugging percentage tumbled to .403. It’s still just an age-23 season on the way, so the story is far from written. But this is not someone I can approach proactively.
Bart’s breakout season was merely 80 games but a .265/.337/.462 slash grabs our attention at a defense-first position. Perhaps it’s a case of a post-hype sleeper finally putting things together, as Bart was a rated prospect for four years before finally making it for good in the majors. The Pirates have good depth behind Bart if he loses his way, but I believe in the hitter I saw in the second half of 2024.
Moreno’s approach is different than most of his peers — while others are often slugging for the seats and hitting for a poor average, Moreno holds a .280 career average but has shown little power. His plus defense will keep him on the field and the .353 OBP from last year gives him a theoretical case to rise in the lineup. I’m curious if something could pop in his age-25 season.
Bailey earned his job with excellent defense, but after a strong first half, he had a .170/.217/.216 collapse after the break. The San Francisco park has a way of turning well-struck fly balls into routine outs (though Bailey did have a much higher average at home past year). Bailey might sneak into C2 relevance in his first full season, but he can’t be seen as a sure thing to hold the job, either.
Tier 4: Bargain Bin
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$4 Hunter Goodman
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$4 Alejandro Kirk
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$3 Jonah Heim
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$2 David Fry
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$2 Travis d’Arnaud
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$1 Freddy Fermin
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$1 Elías Díaz
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$1 Kyle Higashioka
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