July 21, 2017

Michael Griffin recommends catchers (C) who can be valuable waiver wire targets or adds to help fantasy owners for Week 16 of the 2017 fantasy baseball season.

Now that the second half of the season is well underway, the real grind begins getting through the rest of July and then the scorching hot days of August. It's going to be really tough for those teams that are in pennant races to rest their catchers, and production might wilt under the brutal sunlight. You might have to lift up a lot of rocks to find a backstop that can help you for your own stretch run if you don't already have a top-tier catcher. This is my expression when I open up my roster each day to see who is injured:

People are already starting to lose patience with their catchers. You've got Matt Wieters barely hanging on above the 50%. Then you have to ask yourself if you want to risk taking a chance with Austin Hedges when he comes back from his time on the concussion disabled list. Stephen Vogt is going to be out for quite some time. Don't be surprised to see Wieters' numbers go back up.

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10-12 Team League Catcher Pickups

Here are some catcher waiver wire pickups for Week 16, 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.

Mike Zunino  (SEA) - 29% owned

The Mike Zunino elevator is on the way back up. He's had a LOT of people adding him over the past few days. Getting at least one base hit in every post-All-Star-Game start is certainly a reason. Driving in four RBI in that span also bolsters his case. Jump on and see how high he takes you this time before heading back down to the ground level, like most catchers have this year.

Wilson Ramos (TB) - 41% owned

Why am I taking  Wilson Ramos over Russell Martin or Welington Castillo? Fantasy owners seem to be zeroing in on Ramos, that's all. He's going to have fresher legs in August and September while Martin, who's already missed time due to injury, and Castillo might tire even more down the stretch. Ramos has garnered at least one hit per game since the All-Star Game and he may continue to heat up as the weeks go by.

Francisco Cervelli (PIT) - 11% owned

Fantasy owners are starting to grab Francisco Cervelli again. He was one of the most-added catchers recently. Part of it is because he came out of the All-Star Break like a house on fire. He's had three two-hit games since the second half began and he's threatening to surpass his career-high seven homers - he has five already. Grab him and see how far he takes you.

Two-Catcher League Pickups

Manny Pina (MIL) - 7% owned

We're back on the Manny Pina/Jett Bandy tandem, since Vogt is going to be out for a while with his MCL sprain. Nearly twice as many Yahoo! owners are adding him as opposed to dropping him. Pina has gotten a hit in nearly all of his starts, which is a good thing. In this catching landscape, that's considered a positive, right? Especially given that this is for a two-catcher league. Right now just having a pulse is enough to recommend some of these guys.
Martin Maldonado (LAA)  - 6% owned

Martin Maldonado is on fantasy owners' radars because he joined the double-digit homer club. That's a nice thing to have in a two-catcher league. He's also played in a lot more games than others like Robinson Chirinos - though Chirinos does have more homers than him in quite a fewer amount of games. Still, Maldonado is worth taking a chance on in this format. The pickings are slim, after all...

Hector Sanchez (SD) - 1% owned

Hector Sanchez has been getting moderate interest from fantasy owners, though that's because of Hedges spending time on the concussion protocol list. Fans are also hoping that Sanchez will give them a steadier bat than the all-or-nothing Hedges, who can give them some homers in bunches but very little in between. Although he's hitting below .200 now, he's also shown a fairly hot bat in the start of the second half. See what he can do.

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