Catching is one of the most “feast or famine” positions in fantasy baseball. The guys at the top of the position have the potential to be among the most valuable assets in fantasy. Getting a guy who gets 600+ plate appearances and contributes in multiple categories gives you a significant edge over your league mates.
However, those guys are few and far between. As a result, only two guys are comfortably going inside the top 75 picks in most drafts: William Contreras (31.4 ADP) and Adley Rutschman (56.4 ADP). After that, Yainer Diaz, Salvador Perez, and Cal Raleigh comprise the next tier, with Will Smith and Willson Contreras coming off the board not long after.
If you’re not drafting one of the top options at the position, waiting as long as possible to fill that spot in your lineup becomes a viable strategy. There are a bunch of intriguing options that can be acquired late, though each has at least one red flag in their profile.
Let’s dive into a few players you should be avoiding at catcher in your 2025 drafts.
Adley Rutschman, Baltimore Orioles, 56 ADP
This isn’t necessarily a critique of Rutschman the player, but rather what he costs to acquire in fantasy drafts. He’s coming off the board between pick 60 and 70 across most of the industry, and his ESPN ADP checks in at an absurd 28. That’s too expensive for a player who is good at most things but great at nothing.
Rutschman was simply not the same player in 2024. His batting average was merely .250, while his on-base percentage dipped nearly 60 points compared to 2023 (.374 vs. .318). His walk rate and isolated power (ISO) were also down, while his batted-ball data was subpar. He ranked in the 30th percentile or worse in barrel rate, hard-hit rate, and average exit velocity, while he was in the 13th percentile for swing speed.
Rutschman was probably a bit unlucky last year, with his .274 BABIP checking in below his career average. That said, it’s not a huge outlier number, either. His expected batting average was right around his actual mark, as was his expected slugging percentage.
In other words, unless Rutschman improves from a batted-ball standpoint in 2025, it’s hard to imagine a huge leap in his numbers. He’s never had more than 20 homers in a season, and he’s had just one steal in back-to-back campaigns.
Rutschman finished last season as the No. 7 catcher in the ESPN Fantasy Player Rater, and he has a pretty safe floor. He likely won’t do much worse than he did last season, and he has the potential to be a bit better. But is he worth taking as early as he’s going? Not for me. If someone else wants to take him in the top 60 or 70 picks, don’t stand in their way.
J.T. Realmuto, Philadelphia Phillies, 160 ADP
Realmuto is living more off reputation than production at this point. In his prime, Realmuto was the rare five-tool catcher. He could hit around .280, and he would flirt with 20 homers and 20 steals. He managed to pull off the 20/20 season back in 2022, joining Ivan Rodriguez as the only two players to accomplish the feat while playing primarily at catcher.
Unfortunately, Realmuto did not show the same willingness to run last season. He had just two stolen bases, and he attempted just one steal after April. Maybe he will bounce back slightly in 2025, but at 33 years old, it’s hard to imagine him running at the same clip that he did in his prime.
That means Realmuto is going to have to do most of his damage with his bat, which is a scary proposition. Realmuto has been a roughly league-average hitter in back-to-back seasons. He’s hit .266 or worse in four of the past five years, and his OBP has been .322 or lower in back-to-back campaigns.
Realmuto still makes decent contact at the dish, but the result last season was more ground balls. His groundball rate spiked from 37.6% in 2023 to 44.8% in 2024. That resulted in a better BABIP when combined with his above-average speed (.328), but his .429 slugging percentage was his worst mark since 2016.
Add in the fact that he’s blocked at both first base (Bryce Harper) and DH (Kyle Schwarber), and Realmuto is going to struggle to crack 500 plate appearances. He doesn’t have a terrible floor, but there isn’t much upside here, either.
Francisco Alvarez, New York Mets, 180 ADP
Alvarez was an extremely well-regarded prospect, and he’s still just 23 years old. It’s possible that he still develops into an elite catcher, but his results to this point leave a lot to be desired.
His power is his No. 1 skill, but he wasn’t able to get to it in games often last year. He launched just 11 homers in 100 games, while his ISO was more than 60 points lower than in 2023. That could stem from a thumb injury that he suffered in April, but injuries are always a part of the equation at the catcher position. No position exerts a higher physical toll.
Alvarez also appeared to make the conscious decision to trade some of his power for more contact. His strikeout rate was lower than it was in 2023, and his expected batting average improved from the second percentile to the 11th percentile. Unfortunately, that was due to an increased number of ground balls: his groundball rate jumped from 44.0% to 52.2%.
Alvarez is someone I will be keeping an eye on in Spring Training. If he makes more of an effort to launch the ball in the air, he’s someone who could flirt with 30 homers. He had 25 bombs at just 21 years old, which puts him in rarified air: Johnny Bench was the last catcher with 25+ homers at such a young age, and he’s arguably the greatest catcher of all time.
However, if he continues to hit the ball on the ground—and negate his greatest offensive attribute—he’s someone to avoid in 2025. He’s not going to hit for a high average regardless of his approach at the plate, so he should be looking to maximize the damage he does when he makes contact.
Gabriel Moreno, Arizona Diamondbacks, 231 ADP
Moreno is another “high floor, low ceiling” type of player. Montero should hit for a decent average, thanks to his batted-ball skills. He ranked in the 84th percentile or better in chase rate, whiff rate, strikeout rate, and walk rate, and he also managed to square the ball up at a decent clip. Moreno also has good speed for a catcher, which allowed him to swipe nine bags over the past two seasons. He likely got a bit fortunate in 2024—his xBA was 11 points lower than his actual mark—but he’s not going to hurt you in that department.
Unfortunately, Moreno brings almost nothing to the table from a power standpoint. He has a ground ball rate of nearly 53% for his career, and when he does put the ball in the air, it very rarely leaves the yard. Just 6.1% of his fly balls turned into homers last season, and he finished with just five homers overall. He’s now had more than 800 plate appearances at the major league level, and he’s launched 11 total long balls.
Playing time could also be an issue. Adrian Del Castillo is one of the team’s top prospects, and his time in the major leagues is coming. He might not stick at catcher in the majors—his defense is a major question mark—but he had a 144 wRC+ at Triple-A last season and a 146 mark across 87 plate appearances with the Diamondbacks. If he continues to hit like that, they’re going to have no choice but to find a spot for him somewhere in their lineup. That will include reps at catcher, which makes Moreno more risky than you might think.
Keibert Ruiz, Washington Nationals, 246 ADP
How to approach Ruiz depends primarily on where you’re playing. On ESPN, his ADP checks in at 128. However, his ADP plummets to 360 on Yahoo, and he has some appeal at that price.
Ruiz comes to the plate with one clear goal in mind: put the ball on the bat. It’s something he’s very good at, ranking in the 98th percentile in strikeout rate and 99th percentile in whiff rate. When he swings, he makes contact at an elite rate.
Unfortunately, Ruiz swings at everything. He finished in the second percentile for walk rate and the fourth percentile for chase rate last season, so he’s getting his hacks in regardless of where you pitch him. The fact that he still makes as much contact as he does is a testament to his bat-to-ball skills.
That much quantity of contact comes with a decline in quality. His hard-hit rate dipped to just 24.9% last season, and his expected slugging percentage put him in the 16th percentile. Ruiz was unlucky from a BABIP standpoint (.232), but a few more outs turning into hits isn’t going to help from a power standpoint. He ranked in the sixth percentile or worse in hard-hit rate, barrel rate, exit velocity, and swing speed, so it’s hard to imagine a true breakout for the former top prospect.
Most of the major projection systems have his on-base forecast at .300 or worse in 2025, so he’s a clear avoid in those leagues. He makes some sense in batting average leagues, but he’s probably not going to be better than a league-average hitter overall.