Mound Talk

Catchers.

While most catchers are incredibly invaluable in fantasy baseball, finding a good one can help sustain injuries, boost an offense and help you from pulling your hair out after another 0-5 night from Brad Ausmus. There are only two rookie catchers that should catch any significant playing time. But both are guys to consider drafting. Catcher is a good position to take a gamble because there simply isn’t much outside of Mauer, McCann and Martinez. Taking a flier on one of the two rookies bears little risk as you can add someone who gets hot if your risky pick fails.

Chris Iannetta is the rookie catcher for Colorado who should be drafted in most leagues. Iannetta will hit for decent average and with some pop. A .290 average with 15 home runs, 60 runs scored and 65 rbi can be expected. While he could exceed this projection for sure, most fantasy owners would take that production out of a late round pick.

Miguel Montero is the second rookie catcher to keep an eye on. Arizona had to unload .300 hitting catcher Johnny Estrada to make room for the 23 year old this off season. Unlike his mile-high counterpart, Montero’s outlook is not so good. Montero has the power to be a good addition to any team, but will struggle to hit above .280 during his career. He’ll be much better for the Diamondbacks than for your fantasy team. Excellent plate discipline and good pitch recognition but ultimately, derives much of his value from getting on base. 20 home runs is not out of the question for Montero but scoring runs might be with the lineup around him.