Pitchers and catchers are finally reporting! Getting past that anticipated milestone means the 2017 MLB season is just around the corner and will graciously be upon us soon. The only way for those of us not fortunate enough to live in Arizona or Florida to get our minds off winter and on baseball is to prepare for the upcoming season with vigorous, warmth-giving research before fantasy drafts commence. After going over the Top 100+ Starters last week, Pitcher List will now be examining the best fantasy hitters across The Show to complement coverage of starting rotations. The analysis starts now with a rundown of which catchers’ bats should yield the most fantasy dividends this year.
Tier 1: C.R.E.A.M. of the Backstop Crop
1a. Kyle Schwarber (Chicago Cubs) – I'm paraphrasing, but I believe the expression is "catching rules everything around me." As such, we begin our rankings with a group of exceptional catchers less than half the size of Wu-Tang Clan in number, and you'd be wise to end up with a member of this quartet on your roster. To anticipate your question and then nip it in the bud, yes, Yahoo has made an exception for Kyle Schwarber and he will be eligible at catcher despite not meeting normal criteria for minimum games played at the position last season. He poses arguably the biggest power threat of anybody playing the position. Willson Contreras figures to be the more frequent starter at the 2 for the Cubs, but Schwarber should still get a lot of playing time in the outfield and his bat will still prove immensely valuable in fantasy lineups for this reason. He’s also set to lead off ahead of Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, and they’re, uh, pretty talented at baseball as well. What I’m saying is Schwarber will circumstantially be getting a shot to score a ton of runs and you'll want a piece of that action.
