Early 2025 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Top 20 at catcher shows Yainer Diaz, Cal Raleigh among the standouts

This past season represented a big step back from what seemed like a position on the rise

The talk at catcher this time a year ago was how deep it had become, owing to an influx of young talent.

But that talent didn't hold up its end of the bargain, and just like that, the position is stretched thin once again.

It could obviously change. The latent potential found in players like Francisco Alvarez and Gabriel Moreno could come to the surface with another year of experience, but even in one-catcher leagues, there comes a point when you have to cross your fingers and hope for that possibility. So, while in 2024, I may have been inclined to wait forever at the position, the 2025 catcher pool presents a clearer cutoff.

What is that cutoff? I'd say that after the top eight or so, you get what you get, and you don't get upset. Certainly, after Shea Langeliers at No. 9, I lose all sense for how these players rank, by which I mean it's mostly just a matter of picking your favorite dice throw.

Not ideal!

Note that the focus here is standard 5x5 scoring (such as Rotisserie leagues), but scroll a little further, and you'll see my rankings for points leagues.  

Top 20 catchers for 2025

1	William Contreras Milwaukee Brewers C
While Adley Rutschman and Will Smith both faded in the second half, Contreras stayed the course, making him a runaway No. 1 a year after being a narrow No. 1. There isn't a catcher who hits the ball harder than him and few play as regularly.
2	Adley Rutschman Baltimore Orioles C
Rutschman's miserable second half was so out of step with the rest of his career that it's reasonable to wonder if he was playing through something, tools of ignorance and all, and as it turns out, he indeed took a foul tip off his right hand in late June. He gets the benefit of the doubt, particularly as a true everyday catcher in a loaded lineup.
3	Salvador Perez Kansas City Royals C
Perez just had his best season since his record-setting 48-homer 2021 and appears to have waited out the Royals' latest rebuild to become part of a stable lineup again. It improves his chances of remaining the preeminent source of RBI at the position even as he enters his age-35 season.
4	Will Smith Los Angeles Dodgers C
I'd still bet on Smith outperforming Salvador Perez on a per-game basis, but because the Dodgers have Shohei Ohtani occupying the DH spot, there's nowhere else to put their catcher when he needs a day off from catching. As with Adley Rutschman, Smith's poor second half means less to me than the broader track record.
5	Yainer Diaz Houston Astros C
Whether you prefer Diaz or Cal Raleigh here really comes down to how much you value batting average. Twice over now, Diaz has proven to be a legitimate standout in that category while Raleigh is a definite liability, and I'm guessing that the home run gap between the two, while still favoring Raleigh, will be less next year (as it was in 2023).
6	Cal Raleigh Seattle Mariners C
By now, it should be clear what you're getting from Raleigh: the most home runs at the position, a generous helping of runs and especially RBI given how much he plays, and an albatross of a batting average that somehow doesn't seem as bad coming from a catcher. So he's an imperfect standout but a standout nonetheless and perhaps the last to be drafted in many leagues.
7	J.T. Realmuto Philadelphia Phillies C
By OPS, Realmuto just had his worst season since his rookie season, and while some might want to give him a pass because he had meniscus surgery midway through, the fact is it's now a two-year trend of decline. Seeing as he'll be 34 next year, he's declining slower than the average catcher, but he's declined such that he's more of a high-floor play than a high-ceiling play, particularly if he's done as a base-stealer.
8	Willson Contreras St. Louis Cardinals C
The older of the Contreras brothers hits the ball nearly as hard and remains one of the position's better performers on a per-game basis, but he's also developed a fairly substantial injury history that included two lengthy IL stints in 2024. He comes with some risk, then, entering his age-33 season, but he's also the last of the likely difference-makers at the position.
9	Shea Langeliers Oakland Athletics C
With another step forward in 2024, Langeliers has begun to resemble a lite version of Cal Raleigh with a couple caveats. The first is that he's not the same category of defender, which means he doesn't have as much of a stranglehold on the role, and the second is that repeat viewings are needed to assuage concerns about the frightful floor inherent to his all-or-nothing profile.
10	Logan O'Hoppe Los Angeles Angels C
O'Hoppe hasn't turned out to be the plate discipline standout he was in the minors -- just the opposite, in fact -- and that's not the only way he's perplexing. As late as Aug. 1, he was delivering on his upside with a .280 batting average and .804 OPS, but a complete collapse thereafter has relegated him to the mangled mess of promising young catchers who haven't quite broken through (see below).
11	Francisco Alvarez New York Mets C
Alvarez, who not so long ago was regarded as the most promising young catcher of all, seemed to break through with 25 homers as a rookie in 2023, but his sophomore season was a massive step backward, owing something to his inflated ground-ball rate. Of course, he's only 22 and may have been derailed early by a thumb injury, which is why he remains a preferred gamble within an uninspiring stretch of names.
12	Tyler Stephenson Cincinnati Reds C
You can think of Stephenson as sort of the minimum acceptable starter in a one-catcher league, and the only reason he's going to give you a .250-.260 batting average and 15-20 home runs is because he plays half his games in Cincinnati. He might serve best as a fallback option for some of the upside plays below, but then, the upside for those upside plays is still fairly limited.
13	Gabriel Moreno Arizona Diamondbacks C
Yet another up-and-coming catcher who fell short of expectations in 2024, Moreno is partly a victim of bad timing, suffering through the same difficult hitting conditions as everyone else the first two months only to land on the IL twice just as things were improving. His swing is geared more for average than power, but his plate discipline gives him a chance to be a points-league standout.
14	Austin Wells New York Yankees C
Wells seemed like a long shot to make it as Yankees catcher for a number of reasons, but he ended up being a pleasant surprise at a position with so much disappointment. The playing time sort of came and went and could remain dicey due to his left-handedness, but his swing is optimized for damage at Yankee Stadium in a way that hasn't even fully manifested yet.
15	Sean Murphy Atlanta Braves C
Murphy got a pass for his miserable second half last year, but he'll enjoy no such benefit after a similarly miserable follow-up. You wouldn't want to write him off completely, though, given that he suffered a bad oblique injury on opening day and was forced to play catch-up while splitting time with Travis d'Arnaud. His contract status and defensive aptitude will continue to earn him chances.
16	Joey Bart Pittsburgh Pirates C
Things didn't work out for Bart in San Francisco, but the former top prospect has found new life with the Pirates, solving their catcher conundrum with a newly manageable strikeout rate that's allowed his power to shine through. He won't have much margin for error, though, with younger alternatives like Henry Davis and Endy Rodriguez breathing down his neck.
17	Ryan Jeffers Minnesota Twins C
Maybe this is too low for Jeffers, who indeed placed higher than this for all of 2024, but his numbers from June 1 on were so discouraging, yielding a point-per-game average worse than Kyle Higashioka, that I can't get excited about drafting him. He doesn't have the same track record, pedigree, or batted-ball data as some of the other slow finishers highlighted in these rankings, and his playing time is kind of sketchy as well.
18	Keibert Ruiz Washington Nationals C
As the best bat-to-ball guy at the position, Ruiz will always be serviceable in points leagues but has a more difficult path to Fantasy relevance in 5x5 leagues. He clearly fell short in 2024, though, as was the case for so many hitters around the league, his production picked up in July. Heading into his age-26 season, he still has the capacity to hit .260 with 15-plus homers, but that may be the extent of his upside.
19	Connor Wong Boston Red Sox C
Despite having a Statcast page coated in blue, Wong remained a serviceable hitter all the way through 2024, losing some points off his batting average in the second half but never looking like a total dud at a position full of them. Between the poor data, the suspect defense, and the threat of Kyle Teel at Triple-A, it's unlikely Wong continues to defy the odds, but how long have we been saying that now?
20	Alejandro Kirk Toronto Blue Jays C
The bloom was off the rose for Kirk long before the Blue Jays traded Danny Jansen away at the deadline, but now that the catcher timeshare has ended, the portly 25-year-old has a real chance to salvage his career. His contact skills are nearly on the level of Keibert Ruiz, but he hits the ball with more authority and maintained an OPS around .750 from the time of the Jansen trade.

What changes in points leagues?

1. William Contreras, MIL
2. Adley Rutschman, BAL
3. Salvador Perez, KC
4. Will Smith, LAD
5. Yainer DIaz, HOU
6. Cal Raleigh, SEA
7. J.T. Realmuto, PHI
8. Willson Contreras, STL
9. Gabriel Moreno, ARI
10. Shea Langeliers, OAK
11. Logan O'Hoppe, LAA
12. Francisco Alvarez, NYM
13. Keibert Ruiz, WAS
14. Tyler Stephenson, CIN
15. Austin Wells, NYY
16. Sean Murphy, ATL
17. Joey Bart, PIT
18. Ryan Jeffers, MIN
19. Connor Wong, BOS
20. Alejandro Kirk, TOR