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Jeremy's catcher fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups for Week 2 of 2025 (April 7 - April 13). His top catcher streamers and free agent adds to target on waivers.
Below are your catcher fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups for Week 2 of the 2025 season -- April 7 through April 13. We're a week into the 2025 MLB season, and we continue to learn more each day as production and playing time become more clear.
Being active on the waiver wire is essential to succeed in fantasy, especially early in the season when many breakout players emerge. That's especially true at the catcher position, which is very shallow and volatile. These factors make streaming the position on a week-to-week basis a viable strategy if you can find guys with good matchups.
If you're in the market for a catcher, there are plenty of available catcher options for shallow leagues (30-49% rostered) and deeper formats (0-29% rostered). Additionally, we'll take a look at an extremely low-owned catcher to keep on your watchlist who could be worth an add in future weeks.
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Catcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Shallow Leagues
Keibert Ruiz, Washington Nationals (41% rostered)
While there’s nothing special about his Week 2 matchups, Keibert Ruiz stands out as a catcher who will provide reliable production week in and week out. He gets a large majority of the starts behind the dish for the Nationals and serves as their three-hole hitter behind CJ Abrams and James Wood.
He’s one of the few catchers highly available on the waiver wire with no playing time concerns, and he’s been very consistent to start 2025. He has batted .320 so far and started the season on a seven-game hitting streak that ended on Friday.
He had a down year in 2024, slashing just .229/.260/.359 in 127 games, but he still put up a 12.1% whiff rate and 11.1% strikeout rate that both ranked among the best in the league. His ability to put the ball in play gives him a high floor, making him a solid add off of the waiver wire if you’re in need of a catcher.
Ivan Herrera, St. Louis Cardinals (45% rostered)
Ivan Herrera was the headliner of last week’s catcher waiver wire article, and boy, did he deliver. He had the best game of his career on Wednesday, hitting three home runs and driving in six runs. Not only that, but he followed it up with another three-run blast on Friday.
This brings his season slash line up to .400/.455/1.100 with four home runs, 11 RBI, and six runs in six games. In terms of fantasy production so far in 2025, Herrera leads all other catchers.
Iván Herrera has his FOURTH home run in two games! 📈 pic.twitter.com/tWyMfGA2lM
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) April 4, 2025
This didn’t come out of nowhere either, as you’d know if you read last week’s article. But for emphasis, he was excellent in 72 games of limited playing time in 2024, slashing .301/.372/.428. He had a .292 xBA and .453 xSLG, which backed up his performance, and he walked at an excellent rate of 9.7%.
It looks like he’s carrying that momentum into more regular playing time in 2025 and has the skill set to be an elite fantasy catcher. He rose from 33 percent owned last week to 45 percent this week, and that number will only continue to rise.
This will likely be the last time he qualifies for a spot in this article by being under 50 percent owned, and time is running out for you to pick him up, too. He should be universally rostered at this point as a top-10 catcher with top-3 upside.
Catcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Deeper Leagues
Hunter Goodman, Colorado Rockies (29% rostered)
Hunter Goodman just barely cracks the 0-29% rostered criteria to be considered a deep league option, being rostered right at 29 percent. He has been a trendy waiver wire add over the past week, and I expect him to break into the 30s by the time week 2 actually starts.
Even then, he still would have made this list in the previous section, and I actually like him more than Keibert Ruiz for the upcoming week. He has started every game of the season so far and bats cleanup for the Rockies, which gives him an edge over others at the position who don’t play every day.
Now for week 2, the Rockies are finally set to play their home opening series at Coors Field. His power has looked good even without the Coors boost, as he has two homers and three doubles on the season. While it’s a small sample size, his 28.6% barrel rate and .714 xSLG rank among the best in the league so far.
Hunter Goodman - COL
24 PA
.333/.417/.762
1.179 OPS
28.6 Barrel%
.475 xwOBAGoodman has been a bright spot for this Rockies offense as he has looked great throughout the spring and to start the season.
He still lacks some plate control, however his quality of contact is elite. pic.twitter.com/40prBiMWvD
— Data Driven Stats (@mlb_advanced3) April 4, 2025
Outside of Ivan Herrera, there’s no other catcher under 50 percent rostered with more upside than Goodman for this week. Even looking more long-term, Goodman could find himself as a top-12 option at the position with half of his games in Colorado.
Sean Murphy, Atlanta Braves (16% rostered)
Sean Murphy (ribs) is likely to be activated off the injured list this weekend. He suffered a fractured rib in early March that ruled him out for four to six weeks, and it looks like he’s ready to return on the shorter end of that timeline.
He figures to get the majority of the starts behind the dish for Atlanta and will hopefully light a spark to a struggling Braves’ offense. Although he took a step back in 2024 with a .193 batting average and 10 home runs in 72 games, he isn’t too far removed from 2023, when he was one of the best offensive catchers in the game.
He slashed .251/.365/.478 with 21 home runs, 68 RBI, and 65 runs in 108 games. The entire Braves offense uncharacteristically struggled last season, and it wouldn’t be crazy to think they can all rebound in 2025. He is under-rostered at just 16 percent owned and should be picked up now in case he comes out swinging a hot bat in his season debut.
Catchers Waiver Wire Watch List
Dalton Rushing, Los Angeles Dodgers (3% rostered)
With Freddie Freeman landing on the 10-day injured list, many thought that Dalton Rushing would get the opportunity to take his spot on the major league roster. The top catching prospect saw work at first base this spring in an effort to give him more of a path to playing time.
He didn’t get called up this time, though, with Freeman only expected to miss the minimum number of games on the IL. When they do call up Rushing, it will likely be to keep him around for a while.
He dominated in the minors last year, slashing .271/.384/.512 with 26 home runs, 85 RBI, and 69 runs in 114 games. He isn’t worth adding yet, but keep an eye on him to scoop him up when he does get the call.
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