Fantasy Baseball Catcher Breakouts - 5 Undervalued Draft Targets (2025)

Hey, RotoBallers, it's fantasy baseball draft season, and no one wants a dud behind the plate. Catcher is often one of the trickiest positions to draft for in fantasy baseball, with the tiers experiencing steep drop-offs at certain points.

In this article, I've identified five sleeper catchers for upcoming drafts. Now, I don't necessarily think these guys are superstars in the making, but I do think they've got the potential to outperform their draft position and provide value during the season.

These catchers are good options for those who like to wait on a catcher or who play in deep or two-catcher leagues. ADP is taken from NFBC drafts and is accurate as of 3/9/25.

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Willson Contreras, C, St. Louis Cardinals

NFBC ADP: 75.94

It may be hard to call a three-time All-Star and perennial 3-4 WAR player a breakout, but there’s plenty to like about Contreras’ situation heading into 2025.

The biggest change for him will be a shift from catcher to first base. The Cardinals have up-and-comer Ivan Herrera to work primarily behind the dish, freeing Contreras up to play a less taxing position every day. Contreras only played in 84 games last season, but when healthy, he’s proved to be a force at the plate.

Even at age 32, Contreras hits the ball hard and makes excellent quality contact. Last season, he had a 91.6 mph average exit velocity and a 46.8 percent hard-hit rate, good for second- and fourth-best, respectively, among qualified catchers.

Contreras also raised his launch angle to 14.2 degrees last season, giving him career highs in line drive and fly-ball rate. Hard line drives and fly balls are exactly what we want, and we could realistically expect more base hits and more extra-base hits this season.

Contreras also has exceptional plate discipline, walking 12.6 percent of the time last season, putting him in the 97^th percentile for walk rate in 2024. He’s slated to play every day and bat third, meaning plenty of opportunities to rack up counting stats. If healthy, Contreras could lead all catcher-eligible players in PA; most projection systems have him racking up between 550-600 PA. That is an excellent volume for a catcher, and it’s a bonus that Contreras can swing the bat pretty well.

He’s even better in points or OBP leagues thanks to his plate discipline; Contreras had a .380 OBP last season, the best among qualified catchers. Catcher is a position I usually like to wait on, and Contreras is the first catcher I would consider drafting unless exceptional value emerged in the draft lobby.

Logan O'Hoppe, C, Los Angeles Angels

NFBC ADP: 120.61

O’Hoppe is coming off what some might consider a disappointing season in 2024. His .244/.303/.409 triple slash, along with 20 homers and 56 RBI, wasn’t terrible for a catcher, but it wasn't the step forward many wanted him to take in 2024, especially after O'Hoppe burst onto the scene in 2023.

In 2023, he smacked 14 homers and slugged .500 in 199 PA. Still, there’s plenty to like about O’Hoppe’s game at the plate. For starters, he has some of the best advanced batted ball metrics among catchers in the major leagues.

Among qualified catchers, O'Hoppe had the highest sweet spot rate and fourth-highest barrel rate and is tied for the second-best FB/LD exit velocity. When he makes contact, O’Hoppe squares up the ball; he had an impressive 24.3 percent line drive rate last season.

The main problem for O’Hoppe has been making contact, and the biggest red flag in his profile is a rising strikeout rate. He only struck out 24.1 percent of the time in his 2023 rookie campaign, but that number rose roughly 5 percent last year to 29.7 percent. Yikes.

One big difference for O'Hoppe in 2024 was his ability to handle fastballs. Pitchers seemed to exploit a weakness for high heat. Here’s a heat-map comparison of fastballs seen by O’Hoppe in 2023 and 2024.

2023:

2024:

Not a drastic change, but pitchers are targeting him up higher more frequently and keeping the ball away from O'Hoppe. They know his weaknesses, and it’ll be up to O'Hoppe to adjust coming into 2025. Still, there are a lot of positives in O'Hoppe’s favor. He’s young (25) and should hit relatively high in the Angels order, such as fifth or sixth.

He makes quality contact and has shown excellent potential in the past. And there’s no one in the organization to push O’Hoppe for playing time. The Angels did sign Travis d'Arnaud as a veteran presence, but the catcher job is primarily O'Hoppe's.

If you’re waiting on a catcher in a one-catcher league or want to take a stab in a two-catcher league, O’Hoppe isn’t a bad choice at his current value.

Gabriel Moreno, C, Arizona Diamondbacks

NFBC ADP: 186.81

Moreno was something of a disappointment last season after posting two strong campaigns in 2022-23. Moreno hit .290 with a .745 OPS over 453 PA in his first two seasons but managed just a .266 AVG and .734 OPS last season.

A season marred by multiple trips to the injured list, Moreno had a hard time finding a groove last season. He sputtered in the first half, hitting just .243 with a .696 OPS. The culprit? An uncharacteristically low .275 BABIP.

A league-average BABIP last year was .291. Moreno has always been a high BABIP hitter, thanks primarily to his low launch angle, hitting mostly ground balls and line drives, and his above-average contact rate. He puts the ball in play and does so well enough to reach base at an above-average clip.

Something out of the ordinary for Moreno during his difficult first half was an increase in fly-ball rate. Moreno is not a fly-ball hitter -- he has just a 26.6 percent fly-ball rate for his career -- but he had a 34.7 percent fly-ball rate in the first half last season and a low 15.5 percent line drive rate.

He was lofting the ball too much, and he didn’t have the power to try and hit the ball in the air with regularity. Let’s have a look at his month-by-month launch angle last season.

It peaked in June, a month where Moreno hit just .231 with a .288 OBP, but he did have a .212 ISO that month, flashing a little more power than usual. Perhaps he was trying something with his swing, or perhaps his mechanics were out of whack, but Moreno just wasn’t himself in the first half.

He did hit much better in the second half, putting up a .333 AVG and .847 OPS after the break, although it was only 88 PA thanks to injury. Still, there’s reason to believe Moreno could recapture past success next season. If he’s able to straighten out his swing, he could hit over .280 again.

He also displayed an improved plate discipline last season, cutting his strikeout rate to just 14.8 percent and raising his walk rate to 11.7 percent. That should help him out in points leagues, and Moreno should be a fine source of batting average at the catcher position this season.

It’s hard to find batting average late, especially at catcher, so Moreno is kind of a unique player to grab around Pick 200.

Ivan Herrera, C, St. Louis Cardinals

NFBC ADP: 234.07

It’s easy to look at Herrera’s 2024 stats with disbelief; there are indicators that he overperformed in 2024. But let’s not ignore the things he does well just because he got a little lucky last season.

Sure, Herrera will be unlikely to replicate his .370 BABIP from 2024 in 2025, but that doesn’t mean he can’t hit for a solid average. Herrera had a monster 27 percent line drive rate and a 38.2 percent sweet spot rate last season, giving him an impressive .293 xBA.

It might be difficult for Herrera to maintain that line drive rate next season, so expect a dip from his .301 AVG, but I think Herrera can beat many of his projections, which have him in the .250-.260 range. Herrera also has strong plate discipline, posting a 9.7 percent walk rate and a .372 OBP. Herrera has additional value in leagues that reward walks or OBP.

There are some drawbacks to Herrera’s game; there’s a reason he’s the 18^th-ranked catcher by RotoBaller experts. His batting average will certainly regress, and Herrera has almost no power. He hit just five home runs and had a paltry .127 ISO last season. He has flashed a little more power in the minors, with a .203 ISO in 375 PA at Triple-A in 2023. We need to see it in the majors before we can expect it from Herrera, though.

Still, Herrera has a solid contact rate and good plate discipline and should play every day, with Willson Contreras shifting to first base. That makes him a fine option at his current cost in deep leagues or two-catcher leagues, with room for growth as a player.

Drake Baldwin, C, Atlanta Braves

NFBC ADP: 476.56 

This one will require you to pay close attention to Atlanta’s catching battle during spring training. With Sean Murphy going down for four to six weeks with a cracked rib, Baldwin has a legitimate shot at being Atlanta’s Opening Day catcher.

A highly touted prospect out of Missouri State, Baldwin was ranked as the 11^th-best prospect in baseball by FanGraphs last month. He’ll be 24 the day after Opening Day, and he showed plenty of promise at the minor league level last season.

Baldwin’s minor league stats indicate that he is a strong contact hitter, and he’s able to make improvements as he advances through the levels. Baldwin had some especially impressive Triple-A stats last season, hitting .298 with a .891 OPS and 12 home runs in 334 PA.

Baldwin also had a 0.96 BB/K ratio at Triple-A last season, walking over 15 percent of the time. His walk rate has remained consistently high in the minor leagues; he’s never had an OBP below .370 in any minor league season.

Baldwin is someone who would likely be better in a points league or a league that rewards walks and OBP due to his exceptional walk rate. He could also be a batting average help, given his solid contact rates and high batting averages in the minor leagues. Baldwin does have some power and could likely hit double-digit homers if given enough playing time.

The only other healthy catchers in Atlanta’s camp are all light-hitting veterans, such as Chadwick Tromp, Sandy Leon, and Curt Casali. That is a competition that Baldwin could and should beat out this spring, and he could begin the year as Atlanta’s catcher, making him an excellent late-round value.

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