2025 Catcher Rankings (#11-#20)
Preseason Rankings Continue
In case you missed it, you can find our #1-#10 rankings here. Those are the players you want to draft to be your fantasy starters. However, depending on if you decide to wait until late in the draft to select a catcher, or you play in a two-catcher league, then this next list of ten players will be relevant to you as well.
The biggest differences in my list compared to the expert rankings are Logan O’Hoppe, Joey Bart, and Alejandro Kirk. I’m higher on Bart and Kirk than the experts and have dropped O’Hoppe lower on my list.
As a reminder “RP” is the Runs Produced rank and “C” represents the consensus rankings developed from averaging the ESPN, CBS, Yahoo, and Fantrax lists.
Note: Sean Murphy averaged 14.5 in the consensus rankings but will miss 4-6 weeks with injury so we will skip him in our rankings.
Tyler Stephenson (RP-11, C-11.75)
.258/.338/.444
19 HR & 66 RBI
Tyler Stephenson had career highs in home runs and RBI last season while playing in a career high number of games at catcher (127). In previous seasons, he had split time at first base, outfield, and DH, in addition in catching. However, in 2024, the Reds used him primarily as a catcher and he played in only ten additional games at DH. Despite this, he ended up producing his strongest offensive numbers. He also had better decision making at the plate cutting his K% from 26.1 to 22.7 and his Whiff% from 28.4 to 22.7.
Both of these factors are good omens for him heading into 2025 and that is why he is ranked #11 on our list. Logan O’Hoppe was higher in the consensus rankings, but I think Stephenson will give you more consistent production in 2025.
Stephenson provides his value with higher batting averages that his peers ranked close to him on this list - he’s a career .267 hitter - and he also tends to walk a nice amount for a catcher. He ranked fifth in total walks (48) and was fourth in BB% amongst catchers in 2024 (9.3%).
Austin Wells (RP-12, C-13.5)
.229/.322/.395
13 HR & 55 RBI
Wells was a pleasant surprise for the Yankees last season, finishing third in AL Rookie of the Year voting and hitting 13 home runs and 55 RBI in 115 games with New York.
After a slow start, Wells started to heat up in July and August. In the month of July, he hit .277/.388/.554 with five home runs and 14 RBI. He pushed those numbers even higher in August, posting a line of .325/.391/.546.
With a full season of experience under his belt, I would expect Wells’ play to be more consistent this season. I’ve also moved Wells up on my list after the news broke that manager Aaron Boone is considering Wells at the leadoff spot. Wells does show good patience at the plate and his BB% of 11.4 put him in the 89th percentile last season.
Hitting leadoff would provide Wells with more at-bats and potentially even offer some stolen base opportunities.
Logan O’Hoppe (RP-13, C-8.75)
.244/.303/.409
20 HR & 56 RBI
After making his MLB debut by appearing in five in 2022, O’Hoppe got off to a fast start in 2023. In 16 games played in March and April, he hit .283 with four home runs and 13 RBI before a torn labrum knocked him out from late April to August. He struggled after returning but eventually found his groove with nine home runs over his last 25 games. For the 2023 season, he compiled 14 home runs and 49 RBI while slashing .236/.296/.500.
In 2024, he doubled the number of games (total of 136), but his home run total only went up six for a total of 20. He knocked in 56 RBI and hit for close to his 2023 numbers with a line of .244/.303/.409.
At this point it seems that is what you’re going to get with O’Hoppe: averages around .230/.240 with some power as well as hot & cold streaks. He also struck out quite a bit in 2024 - 155 times for a K% of 29.7%.
If you are streaming catchers and plug him in during one of these hot streaks, he will look more closer to a top 10 catcher during those periods. Overall, I’m not as high on O’Hoppe as the expert consensus rankings.
Gabriel Moreno (RP-14, C-15.25)
.266/.353/.380
5 HR & 45 RBI
Moreno came over to the Diamondbacks from the Blue Jays in the Daulton Varsho trade and had a great first year for Arizona in 2023. He hit .284/.339/.408 and hit seven home runs with 50 RBI. He followed that up by slashing .266/.353/.380 in 2024 with five home runs and 45 RBI. You would like to see more power from Moreno, but what he lacks in the power department he makes up with his decision making at the plate.
He doesn’t strike out much (only 52 strikeouts in 97 games in 2024) and his .353 OBP would have been third among catchers if he’d hit the qualified number of plate appearances.
The advanced statistics illustrate the same theme as Moreno finished toward the top of the league in the following categories:
Chase % - 21.6 (90th percentile in MLB)
Whiff % - 18.5 (85th percentile in MLB)
K% - 14.8 (91st percentile in MLB)
BB% - 11.7 (92nd percentile in MLB)
Moreno is more valuable in an OBP league or in a league where strikeouts count against you. However, if you have power covered elsewhere on your roster, he may be a nice later round pick in a standard league.
Connor Wong (RP-15, C-17)
.280/.333/.425
13 HR & 52 RBI
Wong played his second full season in the majors in 2024 and finished with a sneaky good year for the Red Sox. He hit .280 with 13 home runs, 52 RBI, and provided some help in the speed department with eight steals. His batting average jumped 45 points from 2023, and his OBP and SLG also jumped over 40 points. These improvements were supported by cutting his strikeouts down last season. His K% rate dropped almost 10 points from 2023 (33.3% to 23.4%).
Joey Bart (RP-16, C-22.25)
.265/.337/.462
13 HR & 45 RBI
Joey Bart played the majority of Pittsburgh’s catching reps in 2024, despite the presence of other highly touted prospects Endy Rodriguez and Henry Davis, the #1 overall pick in the 2021 draft.
He put up career highs in home runs with 13 and RBI with 45 in only 80 games. Bart hit a respectable .265 with a .337 OBP and a .462 SLG. If he had enough at-bats to qualify, Bart would have been fourth among catchers with a 121 wRC+.
Playing a full season’s worth of games could elevate Bart’s stats closer to the 20/25 home run mark with 60-70 RBI. If he can do that, and again hit in the .260s, Bart could play himself into the top 15.
Keibert Ruiz (RP-17, C-16.25)
.229/.260/.359
13 HR & 57 RBI
Keibert Ruiz is another young player who has shown flashes but hasn’t quite put everything together yet. The Dodgers signed Ruiz in 2014 and he was sent to the Nationals in the Trea Turner/Max Scherzer blockbuster trade.
He took over as Washington’s starting catcher in 2022 and finished the season with seven home runs and 36 RBI in 394 at-bats. He hit .251/.313/.360. The next season he slashed close to those same numbers (.260/.308/.409) and raised his counting stats to 18 home runs and 67 RBI.
In 2024, his numbers dipped to .229/.260/.359 and he finished with 13 home runs and 57 RBI. He’s not going to strikeout a ton to negatively affect your numbers, but you would hope he either contributes more power or hits in the .250/.260 range as he did in his first two seasons.
Interestingly Ruiz has stolen only four bases in 375 games across the last two seasons, after six steals in 112 games in 2022. If he could also throw in 5-10 stolen bases it would raise his value a few spots.
Jonah Heim (RP-18, C-21.75)
.220/.267/.336
13 HR & 59 RBI
Heim had an excellent season in 2023 when hit a career high .258 and led all catchers in RBI with 95. He finished 15 RBI ahead of second-place finishers Adley Rutschman and Salvador Perez. Heim also earned his first All-Star selection and a Gold Glove.
It appeared Heim had turned a corner with his career and was ranked inside the top 10 catchers going into last season. Unfortunately, he couldn’t produce the same numbers in 2024. His RBI dropped all the way to 59 and his home runs were down from 18 in 2023 to 13 last year. Additionally, his slash line dropped from .258/.317/.438 in 2023 to a woeful .220/.267/.336. Heim could still be useful in two-catcher leagues, and I’d expect fantasy numbers somewhere between the highs of 2023 and the lows of 2024.
Ryan Jeffers (RP-19, C-17)
.226/.300/.432
21 HR & 64 RBI
Jeffers played in a career high 122 games in 2024 and responded with his most home runs (21) and RBI (64) in a single season. He hit .226 on the season, right around his career mark of .231. Nothing he does is particularly exciting but could provide enough counting stats for a two-catcher league. The downfall with Jeffers is that he’ll be splitting time and at-bats with Christian Vazquez - another catcher who has had some fantasy relevant seasons himself.
Alejandro Kirk (RP-20, C-25)
.253/.319/.359
5 HR & 54 RBI
Kirk has been unable to match the great numbers he put up in 2022 in his age-23 season and has slid down the fantasy catcher rankings in each season since. He was an All-Star in 2022 and finished that season with 14 home runs, 63 RBI, and a slash line of .285/.372/.415.
In the two seasons since he has compiled the following numbers:
2023: .250/.334/.358, 8 HR & 43 RBI
2024: .253/.319/.359, 5 HR & 54 RBI
Those are weak power numbers and his average and OBP aren’t quite high enough to make him valuable. His best-case scenario is similar to Gabriel Moreno, which is hitting for a high average and a strong OBP (in relation to other catchers) and providing just enough power numbers to be rosterable.
That concludes the top 20, but I’d love to hear what you think. Who’s too high? Who’s too low? Is anyone missing?
Tell us what you think and stay tuned for more Runs Produced!
Great read!