Fantasy Baseball 2026 – Top 40+ Catchers for OBP Leagues (Rankings & Commentary)
Last Update: January 8, 2026. Top 41 catchers with commentary. For full update log, please scroll all the way tf down.
We’re going to rank alllll the catchers! Eventually, anyway. My fantasy baseball league has 13 teams with slots to start two catchers, which means that I’m always combing the waiver wire and cross-referencing Statcast looking for the perfect second catcher to give me the slightest edge. And when a lot of the top fantasy catchers have pretty bad walk rates, finding that guy is that much trickier in an OBP league.
There are 30 teams in Major League Baseball, and they typically carry two catchers. I probably won’t rank 60 catchers, but I’ll definitely be ranking the 26 catchers that I think should be rostered after draft day, plus all the ones that I find interesting that may be fantasy-relevant.
This will be a living and fluid list that will change throughout the offseason so please bookmark or save this link and be sure to visit often for updates!
Top Fantasy Baseball Catchers for OBP Leagues
1. Cal Raleigh
Bow down to the new BCIB (Best Catcher in Baseball), as Cal Raleigh just had the best season ever for a catcher in history. Don’t bank on the Big Dumper 60 HR again, but a floor that includes 35 dongs and a double-digit walk rate (DDBB%) is about the best you can ask for from such an undeep position. The 14 SB last year (second among all catchers) were a nice bonus but idk if that is repeatable, nor do I think he will collect 705 plate appearances again. Regression is to be expected, but what does that look like? 40 home runs? 35? That’s still great.
2. Ben Rice — (C/1B)
After 36 games behind the plate in 2025, Ben Rice should retain his catcher eligibility for at least one more season, which is awesome because he hit the absolute shit out of the ball last year. Go check out his Statcast page if you don’t believe me. An xSLG of .551 and a near DDBB% and C/1B flexibility? Hell fucking yeah let’s fucking go. Name me a better fantasy catcher right now than other than Big Cal Dumper. Ben Rice’s bat is so fucking loud I’m ranking him second among catchers, and also among the top 8 first basemen, with a lot of those 1B guys I’m ranking ahead out of history and my own deference to veteran sluggers.
3. Will Smith
Finally! Will Smith the catcher is the only Will Smith in MLB so we no longer have to differentiate him from Will Smith the well-traveled relief pitcher, and also Will Smith the well-known public figure. This Will Smith will be 31 in March with a bat that still makes a lot of loud contact, and was third among catchers with 64 walks despite 200+ less at-bats than Raleigh (97) and Contreras the Brewer (84), thanks to a fantastic 14.7% BB%.
4. William Contreras
William Contreras the Brewer dealt with fractured left middle finger and will see a hand specialist in offseason. It’s easy to wonder if it really was bothering him that much, as his Statcast profile was a lot less (red) rosey in 2025 than it was in 2024 after losing more than 65 points of slugging. He will be 28 and still carries a fantastic BB% so if that hand specialist can fix whatever is ailing the Brewer, there’s no reason he can’t resume his place among the best offensive catchers in baseball.
5. Salvador Perez — (C/1B)
Salvador Perez will be 36 in May and he posts BB% that are often in the bottom 3% of MLB — and it’d be even worse if he didn’t get a dozen hit-by-pitches every year! That walk rate matters a lot more in OBP leagues of course, where the volume of playing 155+ games (which Sal has three of the last five seasons) can drag your ratios that much more. It feels strange to call a 36 year-old catcher a safe pick but at this point in his career, it’s probably safe to say that Salvador Perez is cut from a different cloth and may not be expected to age typically.
6. Adley Rutschman
I thought Adley Rutschman was going to be the next Buster Posey. There’s still time, of course, but I think it’s worth pointing out that his OBP has plummeted in his four seasons since his rookie year: From .362 and then .374 and then .318 and then .307 last season. Adley will turn 28 in February, and there is lots of room for a rebound and profit potential, but know that he is a league-average bat right now.
7. Drake Baldwin
Drake Baldwin will be 25 in March and coming off a season where he won the National League Rookie of the Year with the playing time he got from Sean Murphy’s owies. Drake’s Statcast profile says his .469 slugging was not a fluke, and his minor league history of DDBB% and good batting averages set a decent ratio floor. He should continue to be the primary catcher in Atlanta with Murphy recovering from surgery to fix a torn labrum in his right hip.
8. Shea Langeliers
Does Shea Langeliers actually have 30 home run power or does he play in a joke of a ballpark? If you look at his adjusted home runs by park on his Statcast, you’ll find that he’d’ve had a lot less home runs elsewhere. Shea has a career 7.1% that is well below-average but not as bad as other catchers on this list, and this is a wave you should ride as long as the Athletics are homeless.
9. Francisco Alvarez
Francisco Alvarez tore the ligament in his left thumb in April 2024 and then he fractured the hamate bone in the same hand in March 2025. Then he sprained the ligament in his right thumb in August and like ten days after that, he broke his left pinky. These seem like weird and flukey (if not minor) injuries that did not prevent him from spending July and August slugging well over .600 and while extrapolating from small sample sizes is dangerous, I feel like it’s a glimpse at what a healthy Francisco Alvarez looks like, particularly when his limited Statcast profile says his average exit velocity and hard-hit% were elite last year. He’s entering his Age 24 season with just over a thousand plate appearances and an 8.8% career BB%. Guys like this tend to take steps forward. Buy.
10. Hunter Goodman
It’s fun when sleeper picks deliver, and Hunter Goodman was tied for the most home runs by a catcher not named Cal Raleigh. Interestingly enough, it was not all Coors-related, as he actually had five more home runs on the road than he did in Colorado. Goodman’s 5.7% BB% was in the 18th percentile of all MLB hitters, though, so he will need to continue to over-perform his batting average (.247 xBA versus .278 actual) to not kill your OBP. I think the power is repeatable, though.
11. Alejandro Kirk
Entering his Age 27 season, Alejandro Kirk grew into his power a bit last year, achieving career-highs in home runs, slugging, and RBI to go with his career 10.1% walk rate. Alejandro’s slugging the last two years was like 60 points lower than it was in 2022 and 2025, and the Statcasts from those years can back up the power (and lack thereof) he displayed. Idk what happened in 2023-24, but he looks recovered from whatever was preventing him from making loud contact.
12. Gabriel Moreno
He’s still so young! Gabriel Moreno turns 26 in February, and he’s already delivered three consecutive seasons of at least 2 fWAR. Obviously, that doesn’t mean anything in fantasy baseball, and his unexciting counting stats (he’s never hit more than 10 home runs in a season), probably don’t mean much more to you, either. Still, Moreno has a 9.3% career walk rate in 1113 plate appearances to go with some good expected batting averages, and hasn’t had more than than the 380 PA he had in 2023. Youth is certainly on his side and if health is, too, he could have a career year just by showing up more often.
13. Tyler Stephenson
Tyler Stephenson won’t turn 30 until August and while it’s hard to find any consistency in his batted ball profile over his career, he has a 9.4% walk rate for his career, making him a very reliable compiler in two-catcher leagues that use OBP.
Best Second Fantasy Baseball Catchers for OBP Leagues
14. Iván Herrera — (Warning! Only 14 games at catcher last year!)
Okay so Iván Herrera actually only caught 14 games last year, with 89 games at DH and even four games in left field, making him ineligible for the catcher position in ESPN leagues going into the 2026 season. This little detail could very well bite someone in the ass on Draft Day, so consider this a warning that you should not draft him with the expectation that he’ll be one of your Opening Day catchers. Which is really too bad, because Iván won’t turn 26 until June, and he’s got a pretty tasty-looking Statcast profile that includes an 88th-percentile expected slugging percentage of .484. He had bone spurs removed from his right elbow in October, and the St. Louis Cardinals still plan to deploy him at catcher, if only part-time, so he should ideally hopefully maybe get that eligibility back soon or soonish rather than later. In the meantime, if you draft him, you may have to play him at Utility until he catches enough games to get his eligibility back.
15. Logan O’Hoppe
Logan O’Hoppe smacked 14 home runs in 51 games in 2023, and his future certainly looked bright. He followed that up with 20 home runs in 2024 and 19 last year so he appears to be a consistent (if not overwhelming) source of power, but he hasn’t had an OBP over .303 in any of his three full seasons. O’Hoppe will turn 26 in February, so there’s upside here.
16. Yainer Diaz
Three full seasons into his career and going into his Age 27 season, Yainer Diaz has posted terrible BB% from 2.9 to 3.9, some of the worst walk rates in MLB. However, he’s also posted very good xBA ad xSLG to offset that damage. That plus his usual 20 home runs may work for you in a batting average league, but I’d rather avoid the OBP sinkhole.
17. Agustín Ramírez
Entering his Age 24 season, Agustín Ramírez led all catchers with 16 stolen bases last year, and his Statcast power metrics were above average, if not super great, and he’s posted DDBB% in the minors that hasn’t carried over just yet. Catchers who can give you double-digit home runs and stolen bases are basically unicorns in fantasy baseball, but his 92 OPS+ says he’s not a league-average hitter (yet), so this isn’t exactly the most exciting unicorn.
18. J.T. Realmuto
J.T. Realmuto will be 35 years old in March, so of course he’s declining, and he certainly won’t give you double-digit stolen bases anymore, and his BB% been in the mid-6% range for three consecutive seasons, almost a couple points below league-average. His defense makes him valuable, and institutional knowledge makes him more valuable to the Philadelphia Phillies more than any other team so while his landing spot is still to be determined, he could continue to give you cromulent counting stats, and his ADP will depend on how much grace we’re giving for him to age gracefully.
19. Austin Wells
Austin Wells and his heathy 11.4% BB% in 2024 was in talks to lead off for the Yankees going into 2025, but his BB% dropped to 6.7% and the emergence of Ben Rice eroded his playing time. Wells didn’t quite hit enough to be a league-average bat last year (94 wRC+), but 21 home runs and 71 RBI from a fantasy catcher is nothing to sneeze at.
20. Ryan Jeffers
Ryan Jeffers of the Minnesota Twins has been at least a league-average hitter for the last three seasons, which automatically makes him worthy of a roster spot in two-catcher leagues. He’ll be 29 in June, and while he slugged just .397 last season, he’s not that distanced from the .490 he slugged in 2023.
21. Carson Kelly
Carson Kelly will turn 32 in July coming off perhaps his best season after posting a well above-average 115 wRC+, and it was certainly his best one since the pandemic. His 9.9% career walk rate is very good for OBP leagues and if he plays 100+ again, he’s probably good for at least a dozen home runs.
22. Kyle Teel
Kyle Teel was the 14th overall pick in the 2023 draft for the Boston Red Sox, who eventually flipped him for ace starting pitcher Garret Crochett, and he made the majors in his first year with the Chicago White Sox. Teel slashed 273/375/411 in 78 games with a fantastic 12.5% walk rate that his minor league history says is sustainable. He’s also a decent enough hitter (decent enough for Chicago, anyway) to DH in 14 games last year, and if that continues, he’ll be an excellent second catcher for two-catcher leagues that use OBP.
23. Danny Jansen
Age 31 in April, it feels like we’ve been waiting for a breakout from Danny Jansen for awhile now, and the Texas Rangers gave him a two-year deal instead of keeping the slightly younger Jonah Heim. He’s never hit more than 17 home runs in a season nor accumulated more than 53 RBI or 38 runs, and he hasn’t appeared in over 100 games since before the pandemic. There’s also the issue of his bad defense, which may cap his plate appearances. However, a career 10.2% BB% and a modest history of modest slugging certainly make him appealing in two-catcher leagues.
24. Samuel Basallo
Despite the presence of Adley Rutschman, the Baltimore Orioles backed up the money truck to Samuel Basallo’s house just days after he made his MLB debut and guaranteed him $67 million over eight years. However, he didn’t so much in 118 PA to reward that faith, slashing just 165/229/330. That faith and a .966 OPS in Triple-A last year suggest this ranking is probably ends up being way too low, but he’s got to do a lot better than a 55 wRC+ to prove me wrong.
25. Carter Jensen
Carter Jensen will turn 23 in July, and he impressed in 69 plate appearances last season with a 300/391/550 slash line in 2025, displaying some very very loud (if unqualified to be among the leaders) Statcast metrics, as well a history of DDBB% in the minors.The 39th best prospect in baseball per MLB, he enters 2026 as the backup catcher to Salvador Perez on the Kansas City Royals, but considering that Sal started 66 games last year between DH and first base, Carter Jensen has a path to playing time that could pile up counting stats and earn him American League Rookie of the Year votes.
26. Dillon Dingler
Going into his Age 27 season, Dillon Dingler, had himself a nice little rookie year, winning a Gold Glove with a .752 OPS that gave him a 109 wRC+, almost solidly above league-average. He can slug a little, and even submitted a tidy .293 xBA that helped push his OBP up to respectable levels despite a poor 4.9% walk rate.
The Rest of the Catchers!
27. Bo Naylor
Bo Naylor has posted some pretty bad expected batting averages the past couple seasons and in fact, he’s one of the worst hitters in MLB in that regard. That shouldn’t put him on the list of the 25 or so best catchers in fantasy but there’s a couple bright spots in his profile. Josh Naylor’s brother will be 26 in February, and Bo hit 290/324/548 in the second half after making some adjustments to his swing to go with a DDBB%. That second-half slash may be a meaningless fluke, but he certainly merits consideration in a two-catcher league.
28. Patrick Bailey
Patrick Bailey is a star, at least by fWAR, which absolutely loves his defense. However, his bat is well well below league-average (73 OPS+ in 2025). His slash line will probably never be pretty and his walk rate is below average, but the R/R counting stats from playing 120+ games will not be relatively terrible at all if you’re in a two-catcher league and don’t want to spend half your summer thinking about shitty catchers on the waiver wire.
29. Dalton Rushing
Per Fangraphs, Dalton Rushing was the #2 prospect in the Los Angeles Dodgers system behind Roki Sasaki at the beginning of last season, and his 933 OPS in 1166 minor league plate appearances says he’s ready for prime-time, but the Dodgers already have a star behind the plate. Rushing is slated to back him up, but Dalton also played eight games at first base and the team has said they plan on putting him in the outfield some days. If he plays enough all over the field enough that he becomes a C/1B/OF guy, that will do a whole lot for his fantasy value going into 2027.
30. Moisés Ballesteros — (probably DH only! Not a catcher in ESPN leagues!)
Moisés Ballesteros showed impressive plate discipline in cup-of-coffee with a 13.6% BB% that also came with a .298 batting average and .474 slugging. I don’t want to height-shame a professional athlete or anything but it’s hard to get excited about a 5’7″ designated hitter who probably won’t catch a lot of games for the Chicago Cubs, perhaps not even the 10 games need to make him eligible for ESPN during the season.
31. Sean Murphy
Sean Murphy is entering his Age 31 season while recovering from right hip surgery to repair a torn labrum that he confessed had been bothering him for like three years. Having more or less lost the primary catching job to NL ROY Drake Baldwin, Sean Murphy’s prognosis for a good fantasy season in 2026 is kinda bleak. He could certainly get a starting job back if he gets traded somewhere, but I’ll be avoiding a catcher recovering from a torn hip. Which is just as well because the Braves are apparently prepared for him to start 2026 on the injured list. I feel like he should be even lower on this list but Sean Murphy was a very good fantasy catcher not long ago and I want to respect that by giving him at least some benefit of the doubt.
32. Edgar Quero
Edgar Quero is in a time-share with Kyle Teel as the Chicago White Sox figure out who their catcher of the future is. The switch-hitting Quero is supposed to be a bat-first prospect whose contact skills were better on the right side and whose power was better from the left side, as evidenced by his 851 OPS against LHP in 137 plate appearances. He’s obviously still developing and won’t turn 23 until April, but in the meantime, should walk at least an average rate and play enough to chip in counting stats, even with Kyle Teel around.
33. Liam Hicks — (C/1B)
In 2025, Liam Hicks accumulated 390 plate appearances and pulled off the nifty and remarkable feat of have the same on-base percentage as his slugging percentage: .346. That’s kind of impressive! Hicks will turn 27 in June, and has never played a level without having a DDBB%, kinda like a poor man’s Nolan Schanuel, maybe? He’s also spent a lot of time at first base for the Miami Marlins and was pretty much a league-average bat in 2025 with a 98 wRC+. He can definitely hold down your OBP foundation in two-catcher leagues, but he may have to battle Joe Mack for playing time and you probably would want a few more home runs.
34. Carlos Narváez
Carlos Narváez underwent left knee surgery to repair his meniscus, which is great news for a 27 year-old catcher just proving his usefulness in two-catcher leagues /s. If Carlos Narváez is your second catcher and he does what he did in 2025, you’ll be plenty pleased with the production you’ll get. But knee surgery on a catcher…Idk, man.
35. Joey Bart
The second overall pick of the 2018 draft, Joey Bart will be entering his Age 29 season and offensively speaking, his only tool is a good OBP. If there is a glimmer of hope here, it’s that he has put a lot of effort into his hitting the past couple years, and the BB% spike from 7.8% to 12% seems intentional.
36. Keibert Ruiz
For now, Keibert Ruiz is penciled in as the primary catcher for the Washington Nationals. Keibert missed the whole second half from a late June concussion that he has thankfully put behind him and is expected to follow a normal offseason program. Even so, he’s done very little in 1851 career plate appearances. His career wRC+ is 83, but it’s been at least 13 points less than that in 2024 and 2025. Ruiz won’t turn 28 until July and maybe he can match the 18 home runs he hit in 2023, but the Nationals just traded for Harry Ford, who will be breathing down his neck.
37. Freddy Fermin
Freddy Fermin will be 31 in May and while he wasn’t much with the bat last year (77 wRC+), he was league-average-ish the previous two years, and he’s actually been like a 2.5 fWAR player per 162 games in his career so far. Underrated and valuable in that pre-arb cost-controlled way, but not very viable in fantasy, even in two-catcher leagues.
38. Rafael Marchán
Rafael Marchán was the Phillies sixth-best prospect per Fangraphs way way back before the 2021 season, but he’s only been able to accumulate 239 plate appearances in the big leagues since, what with J.T. Realmuto hogging all the playing time. With Realmuto possibly maybe on his way out of Philadelphia, Marchán has an opportunity to step up and fill in as much of the previous guy’s shoes as Rafael’s 5’7” frame can muster. He has a 93 wRC+ for his career, not super duper terrible for a back-up catcher, and his past Statcast profiles have shown some slugging promise some seasons.
39. Miguel Amaya
Miguel Amaya slugged exactly .500 in 103 plate appearances in 2025 but if you think that’s some sort of sign of a hidden breakout or something, note that his xSLG was a much lower .390. Amaya has the better and more veteran Carson Kelly ahead of him on the depth chart, and possibly the much younger and better-hitting Moisés Ballesteros behind him, so he may be scraping for playing time in 2026.
40. Henry Davis
Henry Davis was the first overall pick of the 2021 but he hasn’t hit a lick in 660 career plate appearances. I mean, his batting average was .167 last year and .144 the year before that, for chrissakes. He has his qualities as a defensive catcher but it’s a wonder he’s even in the big leagues at all.
41. Joe Mack
Joe Mack was the 31st overall pick in 2021, and he will enter his Age 23 season. The Miami Marlins added his contract to the roster in November to protect him from the Rule 5, and it could also signal that the catching prospect may take playing time from Agustin Ramirez. In 98 Triple-A games, Mack had 18 HR and 7 steals and a 786 OPS. This is a bat to keep an eye on in two-catcher leagues.
42. Harry Ford
The 12th overall pick by the Seattle Mariners in 2021, Harry Ford was recently relieved of backing up Big Cal Dumper after a trade to the Washington Nationals. Keibert Ruiz is currently listed as the starting catcher for the Nationals per Roster Resource, but he hasn’t demonstrated much hitting after six seasons and 1851 plate appearances and an unfortunate concussion. As for Harry, he’s posted DDBB% in the minors, slugged .460 in Triple-A last year, and stole 35 bases in Double-AA in 2024. There’s a lot to like here.
Where are the rest of your Fantasy Baseball 2026 rankings by position?
Stay tuned! I’ll be adding all the positions and updating them throughout the winter. Don’t forget to bookmark this page and stay tuned for updates throughout the offseason until Opening Day!
UPDATE LOG
- December 4, 2025: Top 14 catchers posted with commentary.
- December 17, 2025: Top 26 catchers posted with commentary.
- January 8, 2026: Top 41 catchers posted with commentary.
- January 9, 2026: Top 42 catchers posted with commentary.
Cover Image Credit: public domain via Wikimedia Commons
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