For those you who have the (mis)fortune of being in a league that requires you to start two catchers, you certainly have to tackle drafts a bit differently. In a 12-team league, this means that 24 catchers are in your starting lineups which decreases the production of the overall average player thus putting more pressure on your other batters to pick up the slack. So, should you go all out and use two early picks on catchers to lessen that pressure or is it okay to punt both catchers and still survive?
The good news is that there are young catchers bringing some much needed offense to the position but the fact remains that a large majority of these catchers will be draining your team's production. The main question is just how bad will that drain be. Position scarcity and volatility amongst the position certainly comes into play here. Based on Cairo, Marcel and Fangraphs projections, here are the number of catchers projected within certain tiers of total roto point production:
Value Range | Cairo | Marcel | Fans |
+3 to 0 roto points | 3 | 3 | 3 |
0 to -3 roto points | 8 | 5 | 6 |
-3 to -6 roto points | 13 | 14 | 8 |
In each projection system, only three catchers are predicted to get any positive roto value in comparison to the average fantasy player. Getting one of those catchers could be a big boon in a two catcher league. However, if you miss that boat, the pickings are slim. There's a fair number of catchers stuck within a value of between 0 and -3 roto points and then a logjam of catchers producing below that mark. If you're able to get two catchers that actually combine for a positive roto value, that's huge as most teams will be losing about 6 roto points or so from their two catchers so that's roughly a 6 point swing in a 12-team league.
The good news about catchers is there is a bit less volatility at the top in comparison to most positions. In 2010, the top three drafted catchers ended up being the top three producing catchers in that same order. After the top three, it was a roll of the dice in 2010. Mike Napoli, Buster Posey and John Buck were among the next tier of catchers by year's end but they were taken on average in the 15th, 26th and 30th rounds respectively. Matt Wieters, Miguel Montero, Kurt Suzuki, Geovany Soto and Ryan Doumit were all relatively early picks at this position and didn't really return much value on those investments.
So, in 2011, the best bit of advice in two catcher leagues is to aggressively try for one of the "sure" things in Joe Mauer, Brian McCann or Victor Martinez (with a nod to Buster Posey as well despite the youth). If you miss out on them, don't overreact and try to immediately fill that void with someone from the next tier of catchers as it becomes an all-out crap shoot after that. Peg a few names and see which ones fall to you when you're comfortable with your other positions. However, don't fool yourself into thinking that there's much difference in value after the top group anyhow. It's a top heavy position in talent and dependability then a scary wasteland after that with landmines everywhere.
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