Catchers to Stream for Week 10 (6/3 – 6/9)

If you missed out on the cream of the crop at catcher and need help to address the problem, look no further. This article will address your concerns by looking at who might be the best streaming-caliber catchers for the week ahead. I’ll be filling in for Dave Cherman this week so he can enjoy his vacation, so don’t blame him if this goes poorly.

First, we have to rule out any widely owned catcher. For the purposes of this list, that means anyone who has 50% ownership rate or higher. The ineligible catchers are:

Gary Sanchez – (New York Yankees)

J.T. Realmuto – (Philadelphia Phillies)

Buster Posey – (San Francisco Giants)

Willson Contreras – (Chicago Cubs)

Yadier Molina – (St. Louis Cardinals)

Yasmani Grandal – (Milwaukee Brewers)

Wilson Ramos – (New York Mets)

Omar Narvaez – (Seattle Mariners)

Robinson Chirinos – (Houston Astros)

Josh Phegley – (Oakland Athletics)

**Notably, Chirinos and Phegley are available in roughly 70% of ESPN leagues, but we’ll skip over them for picking streamers. If they happen to be available in your league, they’re both strong streaming candidates for the week.

 

Reviewing Last Week

 

In weeks past, I outlined guidelines for determining a streaming “win” and I’ll leave these up here each week as a reminder.

1. Batting average is king. When we stream a catcher, we’re not expecting multiple home runs, so a guy hitting .275 is helpful and I’ll consider that a plus. Anything over .300 is a super plus and a near-automatic win. That said, we have to keep in mind the number of plate appearances—under 10 PA diminishes that boost.
2. Home runs have a major impact. If you get two homers from the catcher position, it’s almost a guaranteed win, unless the catcher batted under the Mendoza line. However, a catcher can still be a streaming win without home runs if other factors are there.
3. Counting stats (R+RBI) are the lowest stat consideration because you’re not expecting them from your catcher anyway. They’re a nice bonus.

 

Tony Wolters – (Colorado Rockies): 4/15, 2 R, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB

The .267 batting average for the week certainly didn’t hurt you, though he didn’t really do much in any of the other categories (which tends to happen when you only hit singles). You probably hoped for more with four starts in Coors, but you also could have gotten much, MUCH less.  I’ll give the W to Dave here, as he played plenty, got a hit in three games, and didn’t put up zeros in the run and RBI columns.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa – (Texas Rangers): 2/7, 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI

Unfortunately, the Rangers had no desire to put the ultra-flexible Kiner-Falefa in their lineup for most the week. While he managed to get a hit in both starts, seven trips to the plate just won’t do it for fantasy.

Danny Jansen – (Toronto Blue Jays): 1/10, 0 R, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 3 BB

If there’s a positive, it’s that he walked more than he struck out. That’s the only positive, though, as he cobbled together just one hit (a double) in three starts. It’s has been a season of learning for the young Blue Jay, and it’s starting to look like it will be a rather one long at that.

Dave’s Streaming Record: 10-9

Scott’s Streaming Record: 3-1-2

 

Quick Thoughts from Week 8

 

Did y’all know that Matt Wieters (St. Louis Cardinals) still plays baseball? With Yadier Molina on the IL with a thumb issue, the Red Birds will look to a slighly-less-old-but-still-old Wieters to fill the gap. He smacked two dingers and two doubles last week in 16 plate appearances through Saturday’s games and continues to show that he can be slightly better than a replacement-level catcher (in real baseball)—if you’re into that sort of thing.

Buster Posey (San Francisco Giants) had an awfully slow start, which may have been at least partially due to the hip surgery he had in the offseason. He’s slowly been turning it around, though, and slashed .308/.500/.615 in five games against the bottom-feeding Marlins and Orioles. If you’re in a shallower league where someone cut bait (he’s available in about 12% of Y! leagues and 20% of ESPN leagues) you should be snatching him up ASAP. Even 80% of what Buster can bring to the table is head and shoulders above the guys we cover in here. He did tweak a hammy on Saturday, but he’s expected to be fine by Tuesday.

Mitch Garver (Minnesota Twins) returned to the active roster on Saturday, so we’re back to not knowing what to do with catcher-eligible players in Minnesota. Really not much else we can tell you, except that Jason Castro and Garver will probably platoon, and Willians Astudillo will continue to appear at random positions several times a week.

Gary Sanchez (New York Yankees) had three more bombs this week and would legitimately push for 40 at this rate. He already has 18 home runs on the season through 163 PA, which is as many as he had in 2018 through 374 plate appearances. Remember that time he his a ridiculous 20 home runs in just 53 games from August through September of 2016 and we all said how insane that was? He’s somehow doing something even crazier now. A healthy Gary is a scary Gary.

Last week, Dave told you that Francisco Cervelli went to the 7-day IL and that we could be looking at an extended absence from the veteran. He was right. Still no word on his return date, though the Pirates GM indicated Sunday that they are going to be very cautious with his timetable. Honestly, you can probably cut him in all one-catcher formats. He’s not really good enough to tie up an IL spot.

 

This Week’s Streamers

 

Travis d’Arnaud – (Tampa Bay Rays): From 2013 through 2018, d’Arnaud was a Met, and only a Met. He walked up to the plate 1,469 times for them as an oft-injured but serviceable catcher. He’s been a bit of a vagabond in 2019, though. He started the season with the Mets and played his last game with them on April 27th. He was then cut and picked up by the Dodgers, making a single plate appearance on May 9th. Sadly, was let go again, and latched on with the Rays on May 11th after Mike Zunino hit the IL. Zunino returned earlier this week, though it appears that the Rays will continue to hold d’Arnaud for now. That somewhat makes sense, considering the extreme swing-and-miss ways and extensive injury history of Zunino. Tampa Bay has a great schedule this week despite being on the road. They’ll face the Tigers and the Red Sox, but get to avoid Matt Boyd and Chris Sale, meaning they should be able to handle the starters they have to face. While I’m a little concerned that Zunino will get the majority of playing time, d’Arnaud has been swinging a bit of a hot bat of late, batting .318 with five runs and three RBI in his last seven starts (plus a pinch hit appearance). Both d’Arnaud and Zunino are righties, but neither has shown much of a platoon split, so I expect the Rays to split time fairly evenly in the short-term, with the advantage going to the hot hand at the time. That’s d’Arnaud right now. Also, the Rays have a full seven game slate this week thanks to a double-header Saturday, so both should appear at least three times.

Christian Vazquez – (Boston Red Sox): You may not have noticed (I know I hadn’t), but the 28-year-old is slashing .297/.335/.493 on the season and has become Boston’s primary catcher. His strong skills behind the plate are the main reason he has the job, but the hot bat has certainly helped. Unlike most defense-first catchers, Vazquez has pretty good plate discipline. He’s even been known to swipe a bag or two (he stole seven last season in 80 games). The Red Sox have seven games this week, with the first three on the road the Royals, who will be featuring the unimpressive trio of Jake Junis, Danny Duffy, and Homer Bailey. The second half of the week will be back in Boston against the Rays, including one game against the electric Blake Snell. Even though he’s locked into the bottom third of the order, I think Vazquez can continue to pile up the hits and be a decent contributor this week.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa (Texas Rangers): I really wanted to pick him this week, but the Rangers keep trotting the 36-year-old Jeff Mathis out behind the dish lately, making it much more difficult. Hopefully, the Rangers finally come to their senses and realize that the young Kiner-Falefa is the better investment for their team. I mean, how many 36-year-olds does a rebuilding club really need on their active roster, anyway? Their Saturday lineup featured not just Mathis, but Hunter Pence and Shin-Soo Choo as well, who are also 36. Asdrubal Cabrera’s 33-year-old bones seemed young and spry by comparison. Anyway, the Rangers have seven games in Arlington this week, which is an extremely hitter-friendly venue. They’re also facing the Orioles and A’s, and neither team features a starting pitcher who scares me. Dylan Bundy, John Means, and Andrew Cashner will be in the first three games, while Brett Anderson, Chris Bassitt, Frankie Montas, and a spot-starter come in for the weekend. Go ahead and roll with him if you already grabbed him for a prior streaming session.

(Photo by Juan DeLeon/Icon Sportswire)