The deep 2024 Dynasty Baseball Positional Rankings have kicked off on the Patreon, and we start with the percolating catcher position. Top 5 free here on the Brick Wall. Here is the Top 74 Catchers: 2024 Positional Dynasty Baseball Rankings:

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR THE REST OF THESE RANKINGS & TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL OFF-SEASON, INCLUDING:
-A TOP 78 SNEAK PEEK OF THE 2024 TOP 1,000 DYNASTY BASEBALL RANKINGS
-END OF SEASON 2023 TOP 476 DYNASTY RANKINGS
-END OF SEASON 2023 TOP 393 DYNASTY PROSPECTS RANKINGS
-TOP 54 2024 FYPD RANKINGS
-TOP 10 EARLY OFF-SEASON DYNASTY TARGETS
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: OCTOBER MAILBAG! (10/27/23)
-Off-Season content includes team dynasty reports, deep positional rankings, predicting future prospects lists, strategy articles, podcasts and very, very early releases of my Top 100 FYPD Ranks, Top 500 Prospects Ranks, and Top 1,000 Dynasty Ranks

Previous Dynasty Team Reports on Patreon

Baltimore Orioles (free)–Chicago White Sox–Cincinnati Reds (free)–Cleveland Guardians–Colorado Rockies–Houston Astros–Kansas City Royals–Milwaukee Brewers–New York Mets (free)–New York Yankees (free)–Pittsburgh Pirates–San Diego Padres–Toronto Blue Jays–Washington Nationals

1) Adley Rutschman BAL, C, 26.2 – Rutschman has an advantage over other catchers on playing time alone. His 687 PA led all catchers by far (William Contreras was 2nd at 611). It helps his fantasy profile play up, because he’s a better real life hitter than fantasy hitter with an elite plate approach (14.7%/13.4% K%/BB%) as his most valuable skill. I don’t mean to be too disparaging with that statement, because he has the potential to be a near elite real life hitter with a .373 xwOBA (top 8% of the league). The power is only slightly above average right now with a 92.7 MPH FB/LD EV, 7.5% Barrel%, and 12.6 degree launch, but this was his first full season in the majors, so this is basically the baseline. He’s the #1 dynasty catcher in the game. 2024 Projection: 88/22/85/.286/.381/.458/3

2) Francisco Alvarez NYM, C, 22.4 – Two of the oldest tricks in the dynasty book of trading make Alvarez a very attractive target this off-season. A .222 BABIP dragged his BA down to .209 (only 5 players in all of baseball with over 400 PA had a lower BABIP), and he didn’t immediately put up Hall of Fame numbers in his rookie season with a below average 97 wRC+. Bad luck (the 26% K% and 31.8% whiff% weren’t bad at all), and lack of patience with prospects in their rookie year are basically the playbook on how to make trades that look fair at the moment, but end up looking like major rip-offs not too far into the future. And with top prospects flying through the minors faster than ever, these type of buy opportunities are likely to explode when everyone’s favorite 20 and 21 year olds take a minute to adjust to MLB pitching. It’s not like Alvarez’ price will be dirt cheap though, because his 25 homers were the 2nd most for all catchers, and the 90.1/95.7 MPH EV backs up the production. The scary thing is, this is just scratching the surface of his power potential. Alvarez is going to be a perennial 30+ homer bat from the catcher position for the next decade. Adley better watch his back for that top spot. 2024 Projection: 72/32/80/.239/.324/.472/4 Prime Projection: 85/34/93/.254/.351/.520/3

3) Will Smith LAD, C, 29.0 – I feel like I keep expecting Smith to hit another level with his surface stats, and it’s just not happening. He hits the ball hard with a 89.3 MPH EV, he lifts it with a 15.6 degree launch, and he has a great plate approach with a 16.1%/11.4% K%/BB%, but it all resulted in him finishing 141st overall on the Razzball Player Rater with a .261 BA and 19 homers in 126 games. He’s hinted at bigger surface stats in his rookie year with 15 homers in just 54 games, and in the shortened 2020 season with 8 homers in just 37 games, but he hasn’t been able to repeat that in a full season. The ingredients are there to have that huge career year, but you can’t draft him expecting it. I would expect another year where he’s a really, really good real life hitter, but only an above average fantasy hitter. 2024 Projection: 74/24/79/.260/.355/.461/2

4) J.T. Realmuto PHI, C, 33.0 – Buying a 33 year old catcher whose speed is a major part of his profile doesn’t seem like the best long term bet, but Realmuto keeps churning out good seasons (20 homers and 16 steals in 135 games), and his speed hasn’t dropped off a smidge yet with a 28.7 ft/sec sprint speed. His power is also big enough to sustain a speed decline with a 95 MPH FB/LD EV, 16.7 degree launch, and 11.2% Barrel%. In a win now scenario I don’t mind riding him for a few more years, but this off-season could definitely be a good opportunity to cash in on him before he does start showing signs of decline. 2024 Projection: 73/23/73/.265/.328/.464/17

5) William Contreras MIL, C, 26.3 – Contreras finished as the #1 fantasy catcher in 2023. His 611 PA were 2nd to only Adley (687 PA), and his contact rates took a big jump forward with a career best 20.6% K% (27.7% in 2022) and 28% whiff% (34.3% in 2022). The improved contact rates didn’t take away from his hard hit ability at all with a 91.3 MPH EV and career best 48.7 Hard Hit%. He even took advantage of the new rules, chipping in with a career best 6 steals (previous career high was 2, including the minors). The one area of his game that didn’t improve is his launch angle with a career low 4.7 degree launch, resulting in only 17 homers in 141 games. He was also on the lucky side with a .253 xBA vs. .289 BA. The low launch makes it hard to buy him for his power, the low xBA makes it hard to buy him for his BA, and you sure as hell ain’t buying him for speed with a 26.5 ft/sec sprint speed. What you are buying is how hard he hits the ball, and hope the rest works itself out one way or the other, which isn’t a bad plan. 2024 Projection: 77/21/77/.274/.352/.455/3

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR THE REST OF THESE RANKINGS & TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL OFF-SEASON, INCLUDING:
-A TOP 78 SNEAK PEEK OF THE 2024 TOP 1,000 DYNASTY BASEBALL RANKINGS
-END OF SEASON 2023 TOP 476 DYNASTY RANKINGS
-END OF SEASON 2023 TOP 393 DYNASTY PROSPECTS RANKINGS
-TOP 54 2024 FYPD RANKINGS
-TOP 10 EARLY OFF-SEASON DYNASTY TARGETS
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: OCTOBER MAILBAG! (10/27/23)
-Off-Season content includes team dynasty reports, deep positional rankings, predicting future prospects lists, strategy articles, podcasts and very, very early releases of my Top 100 FYPD Ranks, Top 500 Prospects Ranks, and Top 1,000 Dynasty Ranks

Previous Dynasty Team Reports on Patreon

Baltimore Orioles (free)–Chicago White Sox–Cincinnati Reds (free)–Cleveland Guardians–Colorado Rockies–Houston Astros–Kansas City Royals–Milwaukee Brewers–New York Mets (free)–New York Yankees (free)–Pittsburgh Pirates–San Diego Padres–Toronto Blue Jays–Washington Nationals