April 27, 2017

Michael Griffin recommends catchers (C) who can be valuable waiver wire targets or adds to help fantasy owners for Week 4 of the 2017 fantasy baseball season.

Although the temperatures and the rain haven't been indicative, the calendar is, indeed, flipping to May. The grace period for players and teams off to a slow start is beginning to wind down. "It's early" will soon not be a valid excuse anymore. It's still tough out there in catcher-land. Trying to sift through these backstops to determine which ones to recommend has us like:

It's like staring into a void. Gary Sanchez can't come back fast enough, though it's anyone's guess as to whether he'll regain the form that made the Yankees ship Brian McCann away during the offseason.  The line between who people want on their fantasy team and who they don't want is growing wider by the day. No one is hovering around the 50% mark. After the last person who's not on the list at 58% ownership, there's a 20% drop to the first person here, who you've seen on this list multiple times. April is almost May and it's time for some of these players to start heating up with the temperatures. I hope. There are a lot of fantasy owners hoping that happens. Don't worry, though. We're going to help you, promise.

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10-12 Team League Catcher Pickups

Here are some catcher waiver wire pickups for Week 4, to consider adding to your teams. We'll show you three players to snag in 10-12 player leagues and also three to look out for in two-catcher leagues. All of these players are just at or below 50% ownership in Yahoo! fantasy leagues.

Stephen Vogt (OAK) - 38% owned 

OK, Stephen Vogt is still struggling, having had an 8% drop in ownership over the course of a week. He didn't do well in either Texas or Seattle, garnering only one hit in each series. One of those hits did drive in a run so it wasn't a complete loss, but it was close. We're still waiting for him to round into form, but it's starting to get late early. He's just lucky that the position is a trash fire as it is.

Jason Castro (MIN) - 12% owned

This is how stagnant the catching position has been. Even with Hedges' incredible week to grab the lead at homers and RBI, Jason Castro, with nine RBI, is STILL in a five-way tie for third among all backstops. Glaciers move faster than this. In fact, a glacier just told these guys to hurry up, since it might run them over.

Travis d'Arnaud (NYM) - 19% owned

Travis d'Arnaud saw his ownership numbers drop by half - part of it may have been from concerns that he might have gotten badly hurt AGAIN, but he was back in the lineup on Wednesday. He's still up there in RBI as part of that five-way tie for third in that category. Right now catcher is a toss-up and d'Arnaud does offer power potential that someone like Francisco Cervelli does not. As mentioned before, there's no clear crystal ball for this position once you get to a certain point.

Two-Catcher League Pickups

Austin Hedges (SDP) - 33% owned

There's been a bit of a stampede to get Austin Hedges on people's teams. Hitting six homers in such a short span of time is bound to get some owners' attention. So why is he in the two-catcher slot and not in the one-catcher league? He still hasn't proven himself in the long run  - anyone can have a hot week and a half. If he keeps it up for another couple of weeks, then he might merit some consideration for the other list. Until then, watch VERY carefully.

Jett Bandy  (MIL) - 12% owned

Here's a new name that we haven't seen yet: Jett Bandy. He's not on here because of his cool first name. He's shown some pop this year, with four homers and he's shown that he tends to hit when he does play. He's only had one start where he didn't get a hit. He appears to have grabbed the starting catching job, so he could be a great stealth pickup if he continues to keep hitting as he does.

James McCann (DET) - 8% owned 

Things that we like about what James McCann is doing so far: five homers and 11 RBI. Not far off the pace of other catchers. Things we don't like about what James McCann is doing: Hitting well below his weight. If he keeps this up, he could have a Rob Deer-like season, hitting about 20 homers or so and having a horrendous batting average. He doesn't even have a cool mustache like Deer did, but he's worth a chance in these desperate times.

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