Are Catchers Meaningless?

[Lime]

Notice how on the Yahoo player rankings, the catchers are always rated so low. I know they don't get the production (R, RBI, HR) of non-catchers but isn't a large portion of value based on how good a player is compared to the rest at his position?

Joe Mauer is at #99 for Rank, the highest among all catchers. Does this mean he should be taken no higher than the 8th round next year of a 12 team league?

It just doesn't make sense.

[superslugger616]

yahoo sucks...use a different site

[Drunken Rhino]

Yes, most catchers don't have an impact on your fantasy team. Most players will overdraft someone like Victor or Mauer (good players and definitely fantasy roster worthy) but the difference between your #3 C and #12 C in terms of production, really isn't that much. So yes, Cs are worthless IMO.

[teddy ballgame]

I don't think that a large part of the ranks are based on scarcity. Maybe some of it, but I think the ranks are right in line.

[Old_Style]

i wouldn't use yahoo's ranking system to start out with.
it seems like on any given year there are only one or two catchers that have a relivant fantasy value. this year it is mauer and martinez. a few years ago it was piazza and pudge. the upcoming crop might include mccann and johjima. you never know though.
i usually grab a mediocre catcher in the later rounds becuase i won't waste an early pick on one of the two elite catchers.

[Thursday]

Catchers aren't really that great, sure, but there are weeks i'm thankful that Barrett hit that extra dinger to give me the win in the category, ya know? Just draft a half-decent one and just leave him there.

[byfrcp]

I don't understand drafting Victor Martinez in the 2nd round. It just isn't worth it IMO. If you just had to pick 10 baseball players, Victor would barely be the 10th man on a team. And he's seen as the best Catcher in Fantasy

[pibb55]

there have been a lot of talks about this and its pretty much based on opinion. Im a believer that catchers are useless, for that reason I swap catchers based on schedule, pitchers their gonna face, ballparks there gonna hit in, etc.

An example of this working was last week when Willingham had 4 games @ philly, got 3 HRs out of that deal then dropped him and picked up Russell Martin @ Cincy this week, got 2 runs, and RBI and a SB

[tinfoilxtouch]

I think they do matter some. If you have a catcher who hits .250 in your lineup, you're giving a huge edge to the guys with Mauer or McCann. For the most part though, I think they are probably the last thing you should worry about.

[rib217]

Grant it, Mauer hasnt proved he will do this consistently but if he were at a different position i bet people would value him more. HE LEADS THE LEAGUE IN AVG. i definately think the 99 spot is very underated. however with a few exceptions catchers are definately a lower worry but you need to get there before the other guys cause there is only a small handful of catchers that are decent the rest are gonna hurt you.