2026 Position Previews: Catcher
Position preview month begins! MLB DW brings you an in-depth look at the catcher position to get you set to dominate your drafts
Podcast
We are in position preview season! Remember that the bulk of my player analysis comes in the team previews. I won’t be going into detail on most guys in these previews, because I’ve already done it in those posts. So paid subs can go read a ton of info about every player mentioned here.
I got my feet wet in the fantasy baseball world in the 2007-2010 range. Back then, catchers didn’t hit. You had Brian McCann and Joe Mauer doing some stuff, and the occasional bust out from a guy like Mike Napoli, but the strategy for fantasy leagues was typically to just punt it - because nobody was getting much from their catcher anyway.
That’s not the case anymore. I’m not sure what changed. I suppose athletes just got better and more focused on their offense. The incentives probably changed. Teams are looking for guys who can hit and play solid defense, while they didn’t care all that much about that in the older days.
The story of last year was Cal Raleigh. If a “league winner” truly exists in the fantasy baseball world, Raleigh was that last year.
It seems to me that we get a different breakout hitter at the position every year. And we always get a bust or two. We’ll do our best to locate those guys this year.
I’ll go tier-by-tier, giving quick thoughts about every player, and we’ll be commenting for points leagues as well.
Tier One
I’m going to do big tiers and sub-tiers this year. The big tier one is five catchers deep.
I’d mini-tier it like this (click any name to be taken to their full writeup)
Tier 1.1
Tier 1.2
Ben Rice
William Contreras
Tier 1.1
Cal Raleigh
Raleigh projects for 40 homers. Nobody else projects for more than 30, on average. Overall, ranking 400+ players is hard. But some parts of the process are not. And it’s really easy to rank Caleigh as the #1 catcher this year. Nobody comes close. I’m pretty opposed to the round two or three ADP, and I think there is significantly more downside than people will think.
Remember that Salvador Perez had a 48-homer season in 2021. His homer totals since then have been 23, 23, 27, and 30. People will be tempted to think that “regression” for Raleigh means like 45 homers. But it could very well mean 35. And the best he can offer in batting average is .240 (his career high xBA is .234).
Tier 1.2
Ben Rice
Shea Langeliers
William Contreras
Here, we have the Ben Rice question. He’s been flying up draft boards all winter, and now he’s being taken about a half-round before these other two guys. It’s only 530 PAs worth of hype data, but the data is elite. He checks all of the boxes, and it seems like the Yankees are ready to hand him the full-time first base job. He might lose catcher eligibility this year, but that doesn’t matter. In fact, the less he plays catcher for us, the better.