June 2, 2016

Michael Griffin analyzes the top waiver wire acquisitions at the catcher (C) position for week 9 of the 2016 fantasy baseball season.

It's officially June, which hopefully means some bats will start heating up soon. Right now it's pretty rough out there in catcher land. There's only one regular catcher with an average well above .300 - Wilson Ramos. Sure, there are a couple out there that are close, but it's still a rough situation for those who wanted production from their backstops. There are no catchers with 10 homers. None. The closest is Jonathan Lucroy, who has nine. It's a wasteland out there at the moment, which is why you see many of the same names out there who should not be languishing like this. Make it a Divine Week Nine for them, OK?

Our cut-off is sub-50% ownership in Fleaflicker.

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Week 9 Waiver Wire Catchers

Wilson Ramos (WSH) 36% - The only reason that I can think of why Ramos is under-owned despite a .338 average and seven homers is that all the owners out there are Mets, Phillies, Marlins or Braves fans who don't want a member of the Nationals on their teams. It's fantasy sports, people. It's not like a bunch of catchers out there are hitting the cover off the ball. Check your allegiances at the door here if you want to win.

Matt Wieters (BAL) 32% - Wieters is hitting close to .280 after a very cold start. With many other big name catchers either hurt or underachieving big time, he's looking quite appealing. Nearly 70% of Fleaflicker owners haven't seen that appeal yet, though. They don't know what they are missing out on and many could be hurting themselves by not taking him.

J. T. Realmuto (MIA) 30% - This is a mystery worthy of the X-Files. Why are Fleaflicker owners not grabbing Realmuto, who has a near-.300 average and was one behind Lucroy for the most hits by all catchers (52 to 51)? Am I going to have to send Mulder and Scully out to see if these people have been possessed by aliens to not draft good catchers? The truth is out there.

Francisco Cervelli (PIT) 33% - I'm shifting tactics here. I'm still trying to get Cervelli to be owned more, but maybe by those who need a second catcher. He's in a mighty slump, but he's got to rebound sometime, doesn't he? Yeah, his average is at around .250, which is decidedly mediocre, but he's still a sight better than much of the other catching crop.

Chris Herrmann (ARI) 13% - This is a guy who could help so many people as a No. 2 catcher. He's hitting around .280 and he drives in a good amount of runs. True, no catcher could be considered an RBI machine this season so far. I mean, 29 is the MOST? In June? Yes, it's been bad. Maybe in the next month, I'll be able to find better pickings, but I'm not holding my breath here.

Dioner Navarro (CWS) 5% - Finding one of the last to choose for this list has been a particularly vexing exercise. My mental dialogue goes something like this: "Him? He's hitting like 40 pounds below his weight and hasn't homered in a month. How about him? Only if I want the people picking him to lose. OK. Maybe him.. oh, why is he hurt? Sigh. This one will have to do in a pinch." Navarro is doing fairly decently in the RBI department, so he could help you as a No. 2.

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