You’ve come to the right place to find all the catchers that are fit to stream. Here’s a look at each team’s schedule and their starting and backup catcher options. Scroll to the right to see the full week’s worth of matchups.

 

Depth Chart and Matchups

 

 

Catcher News and Playing Time Changes

 

• Victor Caratini is back with the Astros after a brief IL stint. César Salazar is still on the roster and could draw the odd start (though likely not on days Framber Valdez pitches).
• Francisco Alvarez is healthy again after missing two weeks. He had just started to heat up before going down, so here’s hoping he can find that momentum again. Luis Torrens is in the middle of a hot streak himself, but will settle back into a backup role.
• It’s a terrible week for fans of great baseball names: CJ Stubbs is off the depth chart. The Nats opted to sign Jorge Alfaro to a one-year deal, banishing Stubbs back to Triple-A. Keibert Ruiz is on a rehab assignment, and either Riley Adams or Alfaro will assume a backup role once he returns. Alfaro has had just one start in four days since being signed, so Adams appears to be the more likely option.
• The Reds got some reinforcements for the wild-card push. Tyler Stephenson is back after fracturing his thumb – Jose Trevino will resume his backup duties.
• All is not lost for old-timey-name-enjoyers. While Stubbs may have fallen, Jimmy Crooks lives on. Yohel Pozo returned from the IL yesterday, but Crooks drew the start behind the plate for Pedro Pagés‘ off-day. Crooks batted .274 in 98 games at Triple-A this season, with 14 homers, a .778 OPS, and a 104 wRC+. Pagés holds a disappointing 80 wRC+ on the year, and Crooks may have a path towards assuming the starting role.
• I predicted that James McCann would be the second-string catcher for the Diamondbacks, but Adrian del Castillo seems to have won the job backing up Gabriel Moreno.
• Will Smith took a pitch to the hand and will miss at least a few days. Dalton Rushing will start most games in his absence, backed up by new signee Ben Rortvedt. No IL stint is predicted for Smith, but he could miss a significant portion of next week either way.

Streaming Options

 

Dalton Rushing – LAD (2% on Yahoo!): Rushing has the starting job for now and will open the week against the Rockies at home. Coors would have been nice, but Rushing is significantly better at home — he bats .262 at home and just .121 on the road. He’ll close out the week against the Giants in San Francisco, but Smith may be back by then anyhow.

Freddy Fermin / Elias Díaz – SDP (1% / 1% on Yahoo!): The playing time situation for the Padres appears to be trending more towards Diaz; time will tell. The Padres will host the Rockies in a four-game series to close the week. Streaming Rushing through Tuesday and swapping to either of the Padres catchers from Wednesday on gives a full seven games against Rockies pitching. Hard to ask for a better streaming option in a playoff week.

Kyle Teel – CWS (20% on Yahoo!): Teel put up an excellent August, batting .301 with two homers. He’s kicking September off with a bang, batting .357 with two home runs already. He has decent matchups next week against the Rays and Guardians.

Patrick Bailey – SFG (3% on Yahoo!): Bailey was a target last week, and he came through, hitting his third homer of the season and batting .263. He even swiped his first bag of the season to sweeten the deal. He’ll square off against the Diamondbacks and Dodgers next week.

Carlos Narváez – BOS (7% on Yahoo!): Narvaez is heating up after a quiet August. He’s batting .321 in the last two weeks with two home runs. He’ll start the week against the A’s and face the Yankees next weekend.