Catchers to Stream - Week 5 Waiver Wire

April 25, 2021

Eric Samulski's catchers to stream as fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups for Week 5. Consider adding and streaming these free agent catchers for the week ahead.

It's your resident catcher advocate here, with my weekly defense for baseball's most maligned position. Instead of giving into easy narratives about the lack of talent at the catcher position and how they're the kickers of fantasy baseball, I'm here to create a place where catchers are celebrated for how they can help our teams.

Each week, I will take a look at the upcoming schedule ahead and give you my favorite streaming options at catcher. By looking at lineup trends, amount of games ahead, the location of the games, and potential pitching matchups, I'll try to guide you towards catchers that I think can be most useful for you in the upcoming week. For each catcher listed, I'll also add a chart that will provide you with data about the potential opposing pitchers that I think are meaningful in terms of allowing potential fantasy production. Plus, I'll also give a short explanation about why this catcher made the list. Every week I'll also look back at my previous recommendations so that we can have some transparency about what's working or not.

Since many fantasy managers will pay no attention to the catcher spot, your ability to constantly look for the best matchups will be a good way to get an advantage over your competition.

Last Week Check-In

Not including Sunday's games (4/25)

• Omar Narvaez (4 starts) 5-15, 1 HR, 2 Runs, 5 RBI (WIN - a great week)
• Carson Kelly (3 starts) 2-11, 2 HR, 5 Runs, 6 RBI (WIN - the counting stats were helpful)
• Yan Gomes (3 starts) 1-9, 1 Run, 2 RBI (Loss - at-bats and little production)
• Jacob Stallings (3 starts) 1-9 (Loss - at-bats and no production)
• Kurt Suzuki (4 starts) 3-12, 1 HR, 1 Run, 3 RBI (WIN - but barely)

STREAMING RECORD: 9-8

All matchup projections are made in conjunction with Roster Resource and @Rotoquotes on Twitter, which is a great fantasy resource for upcoming schedules. 

Week Five Catchers Waiver Wire (4/26 - 5/2)

For the purposes of this article, we are considering a "streaming catcher" one who is rostered in under 50% of Yahoo! leagues. Whether or not these catchers will be useful for you will depend entirely on your league size and the number of catchers you need to play. In order to help, I will keep a weekly list of "Untouchables," meaning catchers who, in my opinion, should NOT (if healthy) be dropped for a streaming option.

Untouchables: Catchers who shouldn't be dropped for these streamers in any format: J.T. Realmuto, Salvador Perez, Yasmani Grandal, Willson Contreras, Will Smith, Travis d'Arnaud, Christian Vazquez, Wilson Ramos, Yadier Molina.

This is a tough week for streamers, so we're going to have even fewer than usual. With a few teams playing only five games and no games in Coors Field, we are limited in the number of paths to viability for streaming catchers. As a result, this may not be the week to go waiver wire diving unless you're in real dire straits or some names on this list are still available.

Carson Kelly, Arizona Diamondbacks

47% Rostered

If you look at the stats from last week, you can see why Carson Kelly remains on the streamer list. This may be the year that the breakout is coming. Kelly is now 9th overall in catcher plate appearances, so the job is his, and he's earned it. So far, he's hitting .341/.517/.756 and has a ridiculous 22.4 BB% compared to a 17.2 K%. When any hitter is walking more than they are striking out, they are seeing the ball incredibly well. To top it off, Kelly is currently 4th at the catcher position with 18.8 barrels per batted ball event (Brls/BBE) and 6th at the position with 10.3 barrels/PA%. So he's now getting consistent at-bats, hitting the ball a lot in those at-bats, and hitting the ball hard. What's not to like?

Kelly's schedule isn't great, but it's not one I'm overly worried about. Joe Musgrove has been phenomenal and Chris Paddack has made clear improvements, but they're not unbeatable. All four Rockies pitchers are vulnerable, and Jon Gray has historically pitched worse outside of Coors, so I'm not scared off by his early numbers. I'll bet on Kelly's contact metrics and expect him to overcome a moderately difficult slate.

Omar Narvaez, Milwaukee Brewers

43% Rostered

At this point, it's about time you believe in Omar Narvaez. 2020 needs to be treated as the outlier that it was, and we need to remember the hitter that Narvaez proved himself to be in Seattle. He's 13th overall in plate appearances for a catcher, which means he's getting consistent playing time, and he is making the most of it. Heading into Sunday, he's hitting .396 and has a minuscule 12.7 K%. He is making consistent quality contact with a 38% hard-hit rate and 6.7 barrels/PA%, which has led to three HR, 10 RBI, and fantasy goodness that you want on your team.

The schedule for Narvaez is, admittedly, not good this week as you can imagine from all that red. It's very likely that he gets nothing going in the games against Trevor Bauer and Walker Buehler; however, as a left-handed hitter, there is a chance and Bauer has had some home run issues early this season. Starts against Trevor Rogers and Sandy Alcantara are also no picnic, but Narvaez has seven games this week and is hot enough at the plate that I'm comfortable keeping him going again. As I said before, this isn't the best week for streaming catchers.

Mitch Garver, Minnesota Twins

43% Rostered

Mitch Garver has not gotten off to the start we were hoping for, but the good news for him is that Ryan Jeffers hasn't either, which means Garver is still seeing the majority of the plate appearances. In fact, the whole Twins offense has been underperforming to start the year, but I don't expect that to continue. Garver is rocking a 40.8 K% to start the year, which is terrible, but he was never a big swing-and-miss guy, aside from his 23 games last year. While that is a concern, I think it's simply the result of a player who is pressing after a bad year and a slow start.

The reason I'm willing to bet on a breakthrough for Garver is simply that he's hitting the ball hard when he makes contact. His average exit velocity on FB/LD is 96.4 mph, which is 7th among catchers with over 20 batted ball events, and he has a 53.8% hard-hit rate, which lands him 5th in that same grouping. I think Garver will wake up as the Twins offense does. This week seems like a great place to start.

Kurt Suzuki, Los Angeles Angels

2% Rostered

I'm going to go back to the well with Suzuki here. He wasn't great this week, but he certainly didn't hurt you, and the playing time will continue to be there as Max Stassi (thumb) hasn't even begun catching yet. Suzuki shows a solid eye at the plate and has the pop to knock a few out of the yard. Plus, did you look at that schedule? I'm willing to bet on a few high-scoring games from the Angels against that crew.

Mike Zunino, Tampa Bay Rays

3% Rostered

Welcome to the riskiest call of the week; however, this should be an indication of how hard this week is for streaming catchers. That means we're taking a chance on power. Zunino is hitting only .184, but he's 4th in average exit velocity on FB/LD at 97.8 mph, and he is 3rd at the position with six barrels and 22.2 barrels per batted ball event. He's already hit three HR on the year, and I'm banking on a couple more this week. I wouldn't take him on if you can't stomach a poor average, but if you just want HR and RBI then this may be the week for Mike.

While the pitchers Zunino faces haven't been giving up a ton of home runs so far this year, they are giving up more than their fair share of barrels. The names may be familiar, but the results for these pitchers haven't been there yet, and there isn't one pitcher on the schedule that is immune to a bad outing.

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