4.11.25 Catcher News Clippings
This Week's Standouts and Waiver Wire Pick of the Week
This week I was fortunate to add another MLB stadium to my lifetime list of visits: Petco Park in San Diego.
This doesn’t have anything to do with any of the catchers in this week’s article, but what a beautiful park!
Catcher News Clippings
William Contreras is starting to play like the top fantasy catcher in the game again after a slow start to the season. He homered in back-to-back games earlier this week and has compiled a modest four-game hitting streak. He is hitting .278 over the last week, raising his season average to .167.
Sean Murphy returns to the top 20 this week after making his season debut with a bang, hitting a home run in his first at-bat of the year and finishing his first game for the Braves 2-4 with four RBI.
Ivan Herrera got some bad news after his promising start to the season. Herrera was diagnosed with a bone bruise in his left knee and will miss at least four weeks due to the injury. Unfortunately, this slows down the momentum he was building as a potential waiver wire pickup. Herrera is hitting .381 with four home runs and 11 RBI. Pedro Pages steps in as the starting catcher for the Cardinals.
Logan O’Hoppe went yard in four straight games and in doing so became the Angels’ first catcher in franchise history to complete the historic task. O’Hoppe is hitting .359 with five home runs and 9 RBI. He is still going to strike out a lot (13 Ks thus far) and not walk often (one BB in 2025) so his value is higher in non-OBP leagues and leagues where strikeouts don’t count against you.
Keibert Ruiz is someone that has shown promise in the past, notably during the 2023 season when he hit .260 with 18 home runs and 67 RBI in 136 games. His numbers dropped across the board in 2024, but this may be the season when he puts it all together. The 26-year-old Ruiz is hitting .333/.395/.538 with two home runs and nine RBI.
J.T. Realmuto was expected to take a step back this season with a plan to rest more during the regular season, but he has played in 10 of the Phillies’ first 12 games.
This could change as the season progresses, but it is worth nothing that the veteran backstop already has four stolen bases this year. He hasn’t done much with his bat yet (no home runs and three RBI) but even with the expected playing time issues and the fact that he is past his prime, Realmuto’s spot in a good Phillies lineup and his ability to nab steals provides a high fantasy floor. He is slashing .257/.350/.343 in 2025.
Korey Lee hit the 10-day injured list with a left ankle sprain, and those fans expecting to see a Kyle Teel or Edgar Quero promotion will need to wait a little while longer. The White Sox promoted veteran Omar Narvaez to backup Matt Thaiss on the big-league roster. Narvaez was actually playing at Double-A, a level lower than Teel and Quero at Triple-A, but the White Sox decided the youngsters needed some more minor league at-bats.
If a similar injury situation occurs later in the season, I’d expect Teel to get the call.
Waiver Wire Pick of the Week
Dillon Dingler
Another one of this season’s early catcher injuries hit the Tigers this week.
Jake Rogers missed Tuesday’s game and was then placed on the 10-day injured list with an oblique strain. Rogers is expected to miss at least a month with the injury. Detroit called up Tomás Nido from Triple-A, but the catcher expected to pick up the slack is Dillon Dingler. We highlighted Dingler in last week’s post and liked him as a sleeper as the season wore on, but his opportunity opened up earlier than expected.
Dingler hit an excellent .308/.379/.559 in Triple-A last season with 17 home runs, 52 RBI, and five steals in 71 games. He had similar season totals of 16 home runs, 58 RBI, and six steals across 89 minor league games in 2023 (split across three levels).
Dingler is hitting .346 with two home runs and seven RBI this season and will now step in as the starting catcher for the Tigers. Rogers has good rapport with the Tigers pitching rotation and plays good defense, but if Dingler can hold his own, he could approach 15-20 home runs with 5-10 steals.
Action: Add him now (unless you have a top 10 catcher already on your roster)
Catcher Rankings
Will Smith and Logan O’Hoppe are the top risers of the week.
1. William Contreras
2. Adley Rutschman
3. Yainer Diaz
4. Will Smith (up 2)
5. Cal Raleigh
6. Salvador Perez
7. J.T. Realmuto
8. Willson Contreras
9. Logan O’Hoppe (up 3)
10. Shea Langeliers
11. Austin Wells
12. Keibert Ruiz
13. Gabriel Moreno
14. Sean Murphy
15. Joey Bart
16. Jonah Heim
17. Hunter Goodman
18. Alejandro Kirk
19. Dillon Dingler
20. Patrick Bailey
On the bubble:
Carson Kelly, Tyler Heineman, Pedro Pagés
Dropped out:
Ivan Herrera (injured), Connor Wong (injured), Ryan Jeffers
