Like most years “Catcher” is the weakest position in fantasy baseball for the 2007 season. Many fantasy owners look at the raw stats and completely ignore the position, waiting until the second to last or final round of their draft before choosing one. The glory days of the position where one considered taking a future Hall of Famer like Mike Piazza or Ivan Rodriguez in the first round are far behind us. It’s very unlikely that any of this year’s catchers will be able to approach Mike Piazza’s career year in ’97 when he hit .362, with 40 homeruns, 104 runs scored, 124 runs batted in, and stole 5 bases. Even Pudge’s slightly more modest ’99 stats where he hit .335, with 35 homeruns, 116 runs scored, 113 runs batted in, and 25 steals are a bit of a stretch for RotoKingdom’s 2007 top catcher Joe Mauer. However, there are still some very good finds in this year’s group.

At the top we have three very strong catchers that are certainly worthy of a third to fifth round draft pick in your typical 12 team league. While Mauer probably won’t lead the majors in batting average again this season as he did in ’06 he’s still the consensus #1, leading the top tier of catchers. Mauer will likely be the only catcher to top .300 this season that can approach or top double digit steals. He should also provide solid runs and RBIs as one can expect a slight improvement in power.

Who’s number two? Well it depends, do you want a rather young, less experienced catcher with huge potential or do you want a more seasoned guy already in his prime hitting years. As it turns out Rotokingdom’s staff was split three to two in favor of the youngster Brian McCann. The Atlanta Braves catcher raised some eyebrows last year in first fulltime stint. Had McCann stayed healthy all season long his .333 batting average would have finished third behind Freddy Sanchez .344 and Miguel Cabrera .339 in the NL average race. After hitting .275 in his minor league career it’s hard to believe that McCann can repeat the average, but with the lack of fantasy studs at the catcher position and youth on his side (23 years old) he remains as good a bet as any to have a strong season. While Martinez has seen a decline in power the last few years his batting average rose to a career high .316 in 2006. I believe that he will have a power resurgence this season and should make strong run at a .300 average, 20 homerun, 100 RBI type season or better. The one downside is that Martinez doesn’t exactly fly around the bases so don’t expect many steals. Because the Indians play Martinez at 1B and DH on his off days, rather than resting him outright he will likely record more at bats (AB) than either Mauer or McCann. However, for this same reason he will probably be less productive per AB than either of them.

RotoKing's Projections:

Catcher	Team	AB's	Bavg	Runs	HRs	RBIs	SBs
Joe Mauer	MIN	498	0.325	77	13	74	9
Brian McCann	ATL	408	0.316	54	20	76	2
Victor Martinez	CLE	551	0.303	78	20	93	0

After this trio you could honestly wait until about the tenth round or so before grabbing another catcher. Don’t get me wrong there are still solid finds here, but these guys are a couple notches below the first group. The head of this class, according to Rotokingdom’s combined rankings, is Seattle’s Kenji Johjima. Last year was the first in the majors for Johjima after coming over from Japan. Now that he’s had a full year to study the AL pitchers, we should be able to expect his ‘07 numbers to exceed those he posted in ‘06. A catcher with potential for .290-.300 average, 20 homeruns, 80 RBIs, and a handful of steals make a great value during the middle rounds of your draft. If you really want Johjima you may have to reach into the 8th or 9th round, but there will likely be better value available from a different position at that point in the draft.

The rest of the second tier is comprised of a variety of players you have your oldies, but goodies with Ivan Rodriguez, Mike Piazza, Jason Varitek, and Jorge Posada. A few players enjoying their prime years in Ramon Hernandez, Mike Barrett, and A. J. Pierzynski and also one young gun in Russell Martin. Again, most of these guys will be available in the mid rounds of your draft. It would be nice to have Johjima or Ramon Hernandez instead of Pierzynski or Varitek, but the fact of the matter is that there isn’t a huge difference between the production Johjima will give you and that of Varitek. Personally, I would recommend using mid round picks on players at other positions you want on your team. If you have a favorite in this bunch then feel free to grab them in the mid rounds, but don’t reach too early. I’d try to grab one of these guys when other owners are filling out their starters and there are only a few left.

RotoKing's Projections:

Catcher	Team	AB's	Bavg	Runs	HRs	RBIs	SBs
Kenji Johjima	SEA	499	0.291	63	19	78	3
Ramon Hernandez	BAL	438	0.279	53	19	72	1
Jorge Posada	NYY	463	0.268	66	21	79	2
Ivan Rodriguez	DET	506	0.302	70	14	64	7
Mike Barrett	CHC	420	0.288	53	17	59	0
Russell Martin	LAD	401	0.282	61	10	59	10
Mike Piazza	OAK	419	0.267	45	21	65	0
A.J. Pierzynski	CWS	473	0.277	57	15	63	0
Jason Varitek	BOS	430	0.272	61	17	66	4

Now, I bet you are thinking “What do I do if I messed up and waited too long?” “The fantasy owner ahead of me in the draft just picked the 12th catcher and now my team won’t be able to field a strong player at the Catcher position.” Don’t worry, this isn’t the end of your title hopes, I will address this situation now and ease your mind. The following may also be helpful if you’re in a deeper league, where the top groups of catchers won’t necessarily cover all of the league’s starters.

If you didn’t land one of the catchers from the top two tiers don’t panic. There are still five players remaining that received one top 12 vote from our staff, so at least one person thinks they have potential to match the statistics of the tiers above. Every year there is always a surprise sleeper and someone will undoubtedly emerge from this group and have a career year.

For those of you in deeper leagues, I still suggest drafting the best overall catcher. There are players that won’t hurt you still remaining on the draft board. Take Miguel Olivo for example, he’s a little lower in batting average, but your overall team average is going to be lower in larger leagues. The majority of catchers in this tier usually don’t get as many at bats as the other position players, so someone like Olivo is not a player that would make or break your team. If you are taking a starting catcher that late in your draft the other position players are probably nothing special either.

In the normal or averaged sized leagues I’m going to suggest another strategy. Having missed out on the top two tier catchers can be frustrating, but you should already have a solid core for your team. Since you already know many if not all of the starting position players on your team, you should be able to make an educated guess on what your team is strong in and what are areas of concern. If your team looks fairly balanced your choice is pretty simple just take the best available catcher.

Unfortunately, sometimes fantasy drafts like life can be unfair and maybe you don’t have a balanced team. What do you do? Well for the sake of argument let’s assume you have a team filled with “punch and judys” also known as the batting average and stolen base guys. You are positive that your team should literally run away with the two categories, but also know that it’s severely weak in power. In this scenario even though Johnny Estrada is the top overall catcher left on Rotokingdom’s list, you may want to slide down the list a little bit to find sluggers Mike Napoli and David Ross. While neither of these two players are likely to hit higher than .240 both offer as much power as any catcher in any tier. Napoli and Ross are both solid bets for 20 homeruns, which would be much more useful to your team than Estrada’s .290ish average and 10 or so home runs.

Another example, your team is the complete opposite of the one above. You have a team that fields players like Adam Dunn and Troy Glaus great power hitters, but guys that offer little speed and poor batting averages. In fact, your team as a whole lacks a legitimate base stealer and also has a very poor batting average. Instead of completely punting the categories you look at the list of remaining catchers and spot Jason Kendall and Paul LoDuca. Both offer solid averages and a few steals. LoDuca appears to be the better overall player to you, but remember, your team is stacked in the power categories, making the few extra homeruns that LoDuca provides much less valuable. You also notice that Kendall is projected for a slightly higher batting average and more steals than any other catcher left on the board. In this scenario, you take Kendall. There aren’t too many catchers that will be able to steal 10 or more bases this year and those steals that Kendall adds to your team just might get you that last point or two that you need to put you over the top in your league’s final standings.

RotoKing's Projections:

Catcher	Team	AB's	Bavg	Runs	HRs	RBIs	SBs
Bengie Molina	SF	402	0.284	42	15	59	1
Paul Lo Duca	NYM	419	0.294	56	5	48	3
Johnny Estrada	MIL	419	0.294	44	9	62	0
Gerald Laird	TEX	393	0.262	64	9	39	3
Jason Kendall	OAK	576	0.297	78	1	51	10
Ronny Paulino	PIT	396	0.303	37	7	49	0
Miguel Olivo	FLA	412	0.248	51	15	52	5
Mike Napoli	LAA	375	0.227	65	21	60	4
Josh Bard	SD	394	0.292	46	13	60	1
David Ross	CIN	377	0.231	45	21	59	0
Chris Iannetta**	COL	400	0.263	67	14	62	1
Rod Barajas	PHI	397	0.249	53	16	54	0
Javy Lopez**	COL	410	0.280	50	14	52	0
Miguel Montero	ARZ	374	0.257	45	12	56	3
Dioner Navarro	TB	384	0.266	45	8	38	2
Gregg Zaun	TOR	392	0.265	54	11	51	1
Brian Schneider	WAS	403	0.261	36	9	50	1
Jason LaRue	KC	400	0.243	45	15	58	0

** Please note that since spring training hasn’t started both Ianetta and Lopez projections were both made as the projected starter. Whoever wins the job would move up to 16th on RotoKing’s list with the backup dropping off of the list and Yadier Molina, STL being ranked 30th.

For those of you in the normal sized leagues remember these three things:

1. Three catchers stand above the rest, but don’t waste a first or second round pick on them.
2. If you like someone from the second group wait until about the tenth round before drafting one and fill needs at other positions.
3. Finally, remember that if you miss out on one of the top two tiered catchers don’t panic and look at your team needs. If you know your team is week in a particular area consider taking a category killer opposed to the best available player.

Well, we hope you liked this year’s preview of the catchers. Please find the detailed staff rankings listed below. For all of your baseball questions, comments, and concerns please visit our baseball forums, where some of the best fantasy baseball minds in the business reside on a full-time basis.