Top Fantasy Baseball Catchers for 2024: Adley Rutschman, Will Smith, J.T. Realmuto, William Contreras and More

The 2024 MLB season is closing in quickly, so it’s time to start putting together your rankings for every position to make sure you’re lined up for your fantasy baseball draft.

The catcher position is always a tough one for fantasy owners (much like the tight end one in football), so let’s continue this series by looking at some of the top catchers out there. We’ll address the likely landing spots in fantasy drafts for several catchers and then determine if that’s a good spot to take them.

We already covered some of the top starting pitchers, so be sure to check that out. We’ll cover other positions in stories to come, so check back for those.

Get ready for draft season! Check out our fantasy baseball rankings, and get advice for trades with our trade analyzer.

The Best of the Best

I’ve mentioned this a couple times in my mock draft stories, but in my opinion, after the first four catchers come off the board, the talent drops off considerably. That doesn’t mean that you can’t find a great fantasy catcher later in a draft, but you’ll go into the season with a lot less confidence that the position can lead you to greatness.

The top four catchers on just about every ranking list I’ve seen out there are Baltimore Orioles’ Adley Rutschman, Philadelphia Phillies’ J.T. Realmuto, Los Angeles Dodgers’ Will Smith and Milwaukee Brewers’ William Contreras. Most of the lists have all four guys going before pick 60 but none of them going until after pick 40.

Rutschman is coming off a fantastic season in which he had a .277 batting average and .374 on-base percentage, with 31 doubles, 20 home runs and 80 runs batted in. He posted 163 hits and scored 84 times across 687 plate appearances. He walked 92 times, almost matching his strikeout total of 101.

Rutschman should bat near the top of the Orioles fairly young lineup. Baltimore is going to need some of those young guys to step up right away, otherwise opposing teams will be able to pitch around Rutschman. Aside from that, there really aren't many reasons to doubt Rutschman this season. He was the top fantasy catcher a season ago and would be my pick to repeat in that spot again this season. 

There’s a good chance that he finishes ahead of several of the players picked ahead of him. A big reason why fantasy owners aren’t taking him until the 40s is because he’s a catcher, and they get more days off than the regular hitter. Rutschman can overcome his days off with huge hitting days when he’s playing, so I have no problem taking him in the 40s. If he falls to you in the 50s or 60s, scoop him up!

Realmuto has been a fairly consistent threat in the heart of the Philadelphia lineup for the best several seasons.

His average (.252) was a bit down last season, as was his on-base percentage (.310), but the catcher still clubbed 28 doubles and 20 homers and drove in 63 runs. He added 16 stolen bases and 70 runs scored.

His bit of a down season had him finish outside the top five at the position, which is allowing fantasy owners to take him a little later than in years past. I’m a touch worried that he’s starting to regress a little bit, and while he’ll still likely put up good numbers in a “down” season, I’m more comfortable letting him fall into my lap than seeking him out in the early rounds. 

I’ve seen Realmuto ranked around 50 in some rankings, while being in the 70s in others. I’m more comfortable with him going in the 60s or 70s. If you are comfortable with some of your earlier draft picks, you could draft Realmuto around then, but if you are expecting him to power your team, that’s a big gamble.

Smith usually goes a few picks after Realmuto, and then Contreras goes shortly after him. Some of that has to do with simply liking the two catchers, but a part of it is fantasy owners not wanting to miss out on the top four, which is a dangerous game to play.

Smith is in the stacked Dodgers’ lineup. He hit .261 and had a .359 on-base percentage a season ago. He hit 21 doubles and 19 homers, while driving in 76 runs. He scored a career high 80 runs, and he could be on his way to another career high in this year’s lineup.

It’s insane to look at what the top of the Dodgers’ lineup could be (Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman are expected to bat 1-3 before Smith hits cleanup). That will mean a ton of RBI chances for the LA catcher. 

The determining factor on Smith’s season might be who follows him in the lineup. If Max Muncy, James Outman or Teoscar Hernandez can even somewhat consistently deliver, that means Smith will get plenty of chances to post monster numbers. If they can't, Smith might have a great on-base percentage from all the walks he could draw. Let’s be serious here though, if the Dodgers are struggling to protect the top four guys in the lineup, they’ll likely make a move to fix the issue.

I’m not worried about Smith, and actually think he’s a great value pick for where he’s going. I like him over Realmuto, and there’s a solid chance he also finishes above Rutschman if Smith plays enough games. I’m good with taking Smith in the late 50s, and would be thrilled to get him a round or more later.

Contreras doesn’t have quite as much appeal in a weaker Brewers’ lineup, but the recent acquisition of Rhys Hoskins definitely was a positive thing for Contreras. The catcher had a .289 batting average and .367 on-base percentage in his first season with Milwaukee. He had 38 doubles and 17 homers, while driving in 78 runs and scoring 86 times. 

His fantasy value will probably depend on who is hitting leadoff, as Contreras is expected to hit second again. Christian Yelich is the one likely ahead of him in the lineup, and he’ll at least need to repeat last season to give Contreras some RBI chances. Hoskins and Willy Adames will be part of the group backing Contreras up in the lineup, and those guys' best ability is clubbing homers, so hopefully they continue to do that so Contreras can score plenty of runs.

I’ve seen Contreras going as early as the late 50s. I prefer him in the 60s because of the uncertainty of that lineup to consistently deliver, and if you can draft Contreras later than that, it’s a big win. Him and Realmuto are pretty close in my book, but I prefer higher averages, and that means Contreras is my preferred option.

Other Guys Worth Mentioning

If you miss on one of the top four guys, don’t panic - there’s talent later in the draft. They don’t have the same high outlooks as the top four guys, but you can mix and match your way to a positive at the position still. Let’s mention a few guys.

Houston Astros’ Yainer Diaz and Kansas City Royals’ Salvador Perez are pretty popular picks to be the fifth and sixth guys selected.

Diaz hit .282 and had a .308 on-base percentage last season. He’d likely go much earlier in drafts if he got on base at a better clip - he had only 74 strikeouts, but walked just 11 times across 377 plate appearances. Diaz clubbed 45 extra-base hits and drove in 60 runs. He’s in a strong lineup, so that helps his fantasy outlook.

Perez continues to mash despite entering his mid-30s. He had a .255 average and .292 on-base percentage last season, with 44 extra-base hits and 80 RBIs. His lineup isn’t nearly as good as the Astros, so I like Diaz over Perez, but Perez could easily be the better fantasy player with his power.

Seattle Mariners’ Cal Raleigh, Atlanta Braves’ Sean Murphy, St. Louis Cardinals’ Willson Contreras, Arizona Diamondbacks’ Gabriel Moreno and New York Mets’ Francisco Alvarez are all pretty bunched up on most rankings lists.

Raleigh was the best fantasy option of that group, mostly because he played in the most games. All of them should play in at least 110 games or so. For catchers, the best fantasy asset is games played, as that means more at-bats and chances for production, so Raleigh is one of my favorite options after the first group of four catchers are drafted.

The thing I like to do to identify some of the best options is to look up a statistics page like this one at FanGraphs. You can filter by any statistic you want. You can identify the guys who played the most, were the best hitters, sluggers and stolen base threats and so on and so on. 

With some quick sorting, a name that popped up but wasn’t mentioned in this article was Texas Rangers’ Jonah Heim (RBIs). He usually isn’t drafted until the next tier of catchers, but he might be a better fantasy asset depending on what you are looking for.

We’ll cover more catchers in stories to come, so keep checking back!