Sport: MLB<\/p>\n
As I was doing my NL- and AL-Only catcher rankings, it quickly became clear that the American League is deeper at the catcher position. It begins with Cal Raleigh and just continues from there. If you have to start two catchers, then things certainly drop off, but it\u2019s just a slower ramp down in the AL with more higher-level options.<\/p>\n
What?! Your fantasy baseball league wasn\u2019t hosted on Fantrax this season? Preposterous! Check out what the Fantrax MLB Commissioner<\/a> has to offer and we think you\u2019ll be singing a different tune for the 2026 MLB season.<\/p>\n There\u2019s always going to be a balance between drafting the best player available and filling out a roster. Position scarcity is real, but based on your team build, I have no issues going 15 deep here.<\/p>\n No one is going to argue with Raleigh, Ben Rice, or Shea Langeliers, but there\u2019s also an opportunity cost. This season, my strategy is going to be to draft two options in the 10 to 15 range. Now, let\u2019s jump into the 2026 AL-Only Catcher Rankings.<\/p>\n American League Only Catcher Notes Talk about a September. After a strong minor league season, Carter Jensen kept the momentum going upon his promotion to Kansas City. In 20 games with the Royals, Jensen hit .300 with three home runs and 13 RBI. That came after he hit .290 in 111 minor league games (68 in Double-A and 43 in Triple-A) with 20 home runs, 10 stolen bases, and 76 RBI.<\/p>\n It was a limited sample size, but Jensen only struck out 17.4% of the time, along with a 13% walk rate. Seeing Jensen with a double-digit walk rate tracks from his minor league track record, but we do need to keep an eye on the strikeouts.<\/p>\n Jensen had a .211 ISO in the minor leagues last season, followed by a .250 ISO with the Royals. Beyond the production, it was also hard to ignore Jensen\u2019s 20.8% barrel rate and 58.3% hard hit rate. He also had a .550 SLG to go along with a .611 xSLG.<\/p>\n We certainly don\u2019t want to run the risk of drawing major conclusions from a 20-game stretch, but it\u2019s hard to ignore what we saw from Jensen. He also showed some level of power and speed production in the minor leagues, but last year was his career best, albeit not necessarily an outlier.<\/p>\n At this point, Salvador Perez is slotted in as Kansas City\u2019s starting catcher, but I\u2019d expect him to receive ample time at DH. That opens up playing time and upside for Jensen.<\/p>\n Yainer Diaz, Houston Astros<\/p>\n Can we just take pieces of Yainer Diaz\u2019s performance over the last three seasons and combine them?<\/p>\n After seeing his home runs dip from 23 to 16 in 2024, Diaz bounced back to hit 20 home runs last season. That came while his batting average fell from .299 to .256. Perhaps the bigger concern, though, is seeing Diaz\u2019s ISO drop from .256 to .161.<\/p>\n Overall, Diaz is a solid option, but at this point, he\u2019s not someone who should be overvalued. He will bat in the middle of a solid Houston Astros lineup and, once again, will be a solid run producer. Diaz had a solid 9.7% barrel rate last season, but simply makes too much medium contact (53.1%). The age and regular at-bats will put him towards the top of the rankings, but what you see is what you get. And this is more of a batting average play than anything else.<\/p>\n Adley Rutschman, Baltimore Orioles<\/p>\n At what point is Adley Rutschman no longer the former first-round pick and simply who he is?<\/p>\n Over the past three seasons, Rutschman\u2019s home run totals have gone from 20, to 19, and then all the way down to nine. His batting average has gone from .277 to .250, and then to .220. Injuries were an issue, though, as Rutschman only played in 90 games last season. If you give him a full slate of at-bats, then the home runs and RBI are likely more in line with the two previous seasons.<\/p>\n The bigger issue is the fact that Rutschman simply doesn\u2019t generate any power with ISO\u2019s of .158, .140, and .146. With a 7.5% barrel rate and 38.6% hard hit rate, the quality of contact is simply not there. Don\u2019t draft based on name recognition here. While Rutschman is still one of the better options, it\u2019s based more on his batting average and lineup depth. Instead, it\u2019s proof that you can wait at the position.<\/p>\n Ryan Jeffers, Minnesota Twins<\/p>\n While Ryan Jeffers\u2019 batting average bounced back from .226 to .266, his home run total fell from 21 to 9. His ISO followed a similar path, going from .206 to .131.<\/p>\n Entering 2026, Jeffers figures to receive regular playing time again, but is he playing too much? As his at-bats have increased over the past two seasons, Jeffers\u2019 barrel rates have decreased. In the second half of 2025, Jeffers did hit .297, although the power simply wasn\u2019t there.<\/p>\n Jeffers should be good for another 120 games this season and 15 home runs and 55 RBI should be a solid expectation. If you wait at the catcher position, you can do worse.<\/p>\n 2026 AL-Only Catcher Rankings<\/p>\n \tRnkPlayerTeam<\/p>\n \t1Cal RaleighSEA<\/p>\n \t2Ben RiceNYY<\/p>\n \t3Shea LangeliersATH<\/p>\n \t4Salvador PerezKC<\/p>\n \t5Yainer DiazHOU<\/p>\n \t6Adley RutschmanBAL<\/p>\n \t7Alejandro KirkTOR<\/p>\n \t8Samuel BasalloBAL<\/p>\n \t9Kyle TeelCWS<\/p>\n \t10Logan O’HoppeLAA<\/p>\n \t11Carter JensenKC<\/p>\n \t12Dillon DinglerDET<\/p>\n \t13J.T. RealmutoFA<\/p>\n \t14Austin WellsNYY<\/p>\n \t15Ryan JeffersMIN<\/p>\n \t16Edgar QueroCWS<\/p>\n \t17Bo NaylorCLE<\/p>\n \t18Carlos NarvaezBOS<\/p>\n \t19Danny JansenTEX<\/p>\n \t20Nick FortesTB<\/p>\n \t21Kyle HigashioakaTEX<\/p>\n \t22Connor WongBOS<\/p>\n \t23Mitch GarverSEA<\/p>\n \t24Tyler HeinemanTOR<\/p>\n \t25Josue BricenoDET<\/p>\n Fantrax is one of the fastest-growing fantasy sites in the fantasy sports industry, and we\u2019re not stopping anytime soon. We are the most customizable, easy-to-use, and feature-rich platform in the industry, offering the greatest fantasy experience for your dynasty, keeper, redraft, and best ball leagues. Fantasy sports doesn\u2019t sleep, and neither does Fantrax, with seasons running 365 days a year. Take your fantasy leagues to the next level now at Fantrax.com<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sport: MLB As I was doing my NL- and AL-Only catcher rankings, it quickly became clear that the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[189006,363,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-393061","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-2026-fantasy-baseball-draft-kit","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nCarter Jensen, Kansas City Royals<\/p>\n