Fantasy Baseball Catcher Ranking Takeaways

A Blog By Nick

As I finished up my first edition of Catcher roto rankings for 2025 Fantasy, I looked around at where I stood compared to other rankings (from Rotochamp, CBS, ESPN, and also Average Draft Position from NFC). This may be looked at as bad practice, but I try my best not to look at other Rankings/ADP when I make my rankings initially. However, when I was scrolling through the other website’s rankings, I noticed a pattern. I am significantly higher on one player than the general consensus (so far).

Sean Murphy (7th):

I feel like I’m missing something here. If the drafts go the way that they look, Sean Murphy will be “my guy” at catcher this season. He’s got the contract, He’s great defensively. So the playing time will be there, barring (another) injury. He’s been banged up, but if he can put together a healthy season, he’ll finish as a top 5 catcher.

He’s 17th in NFC ADP currently, and I’m just scratching my head… The Braves traded for him a couple years ago, and I feel like they haven’t reaped the benefits of him yet. I think that they will this season. Especially with Travis d’Arnaud out of the picture now. That will later on, tie into the other discrepancy I noticed.

But let’s stay on Sean Murphy a bit longer. He’s going to batting in that gauntlet of a Braves lineup, that has the potential to supply crooked Run and RBI production. From a value standpoint, Murphy is currently sandwiched between Connor Wong (BOS) and Ryan Jeffers (MIN) in NFC ADP around pick 230-250. I refuse to believe he goes that low. If he does, then I’ll have him in all of my leagues!

Before I move on, I do have to address the “light pink” flag on Sean Murphy. Braves #5 prospect, Drake Baldwin. I don’t believe that Baldwin will break camp with the Braves, but our resident Braves fans, Brad and Jeb, think that he could be up post All-Star Break. The 17th catcher in ADP can’t be completely perfect. That would be too easy! But I am looking forward to seeing how many leagues I get Sean Murphy in.

Now, moving on to my earlier mentioned “other” discrepancy…

Logan O’Hoppe (14th)

This one is kind of ironic, since last season I had O’Hoppe ranked as high as anybody in the fantasy world (8th). This ranking to me is less a knock on O’Hoppe, and more-so a knock on the situation that he’ll be in. He hit .167 vs LHP last season, and rather than let him develop and learn through that, the Angels signed a former backstop for Ron Washington, in Travis d’Arnaud, who had an OPS of .922 vs LHP.

O’Hoppe is being drafted on average 150 picks earlier than Murphy. No thank you. I’m usually a fan of waiting on a catcher in drafts, and this year is no different. Every year, there are some overvalued players at every position, and it appears this year O’Hoppe is on the trajectory to be included there.

The Halo’s catching duo will be great for real life baseball, but for fantasy is a bit frustrating. I think the long term development for O’Hoppe has me torn. Does he learn from the veteran in d’Arnaud? Or do the lack of AB’s vs LHP set him back? Hopefully it all works out long term for O’Hoppe. He’s been a favorite of mine for a few years now.

Now, before I put a bow on this, I don’t want to make myself look like a complete donkey… Logan O’Hoppe has the potential to be a complete stud vs RHP this season, and still be a top 5 catcher. Despite the high K% (29.7%), his xBA was still .251, and he hit 20 HR’s. I also want to point out, that if you play in a DAILY lineups league, my ranking for him goes up. But for my weekly lineups, I want a catcher eligible player that will be in the lineup for the majority of those games. I also previously stated that I like to wait on a catcher. Sometimes that can change if you play in a two catcher league. If that’s the case, you may have to structure your draft differently. The scoring and lineup context is SO important to take into consideration when consuming fantasy content. Know your league, platform, and settings!

If you want my Top 30 Catcher rankings, you can find them on my X page (@nicksMLBpicks), and my Chalkboard page with the same handle. That link is in my X bio.

I would love to put out one of these reviews on my rankings following each position. No promises though. I may be complete chalk on my other positional rankings, but we’ll have to find out. I look forward to finishing them. But in the mean time, I thank you for reading, and hope that you can use some of this during draft season!