Player Power Rankings: Catcher

I'm made my third modification (this one being a much more simplified version of the Zeplen Dean system) where i'm using numbers to rank players by position. As i'm starting from scratch (again) i'm going to be starting with Catchers. What i'll do is rank the players with enough plate appearances to be eligible for rate statistic titles while also highlighting players who have been getting picked up lately.

Amongst the 13 players with enough plate appearances, the Average Zeplen Dean Score is 42.1 with the Standard Deviation being 7.5

Tier 1:

1-Jonathan Lucroy
2-Buster Posey

The political style campaigning may have not led to a victory in the fan voting for the all-star game but he still got the nod as an all-star. While his batting average is slightly elevated due to a .351 BABIP, even after accounting for this, he still projects to hit .281 with 21 Homers when all is said and done.

Tier 2:

3-Miguel Montero

Over the off-season, Montero's value was driven down due to a career worst season. He has bounced back very nicely this season. Even though the Diamondbacks have had a substandard season (in all categories except being gritty and enforcing the unwritten rules of baseball) over 650 plate appearances, he projects to hit .270 while also having the highest projected RBIs at this point.

4-Brian McCann
5-Mike Zunino
6-Yan Gomes
7-Salvador Perez


Tier 3:

8-Kurt Suzuki

Suzuki has historically had a weak profile offensively and going to the Twins didn't appear to help things along but has been better than expected this year.  While he has shown some improvement signs (improvement in K%), his shiny .306 average has been influenced primarily by BABIP fairy dust (.326 versus a .273 career mark). While his performance is on a recent upswing (6 game hitting streak) keeping his average above .300 for the rest of the season is something that I wouldn't bank on (plus there isn't the side benefit of getting much in the power categories either).

9-Yadier Molina
10-Dioner Navarro

Tier 4:

11-Jason Castro

On the surface Castro, looked to be on the upswing going into 2014. It's tough to blame his 2014 struggles on regression as his BABIP is at .309 and his B/K ratio is headed in the wrong direction.

12-Carlos Ruiz

Thrift Shopping (<25% Owned)

John Jaso (13%)

With Jaso, the issue rests primarily with playing time as the Athletics have used platoon upon platoon to become one of the strongest teams in the league. While Jaso is more likely an option in daily/AL only leagues, he is an unheralded source of power (his seven homers equals what Yadier Molina & Jason Castro have accomplished with much more frequent playing time).

Dumpster Diving (<10% Owned)

Alex Avila (4%)

Has gotten six hits in his last nine games. While the batting average is probably going to stay very low (.228 despite a .339 BABIP) he still looks to be a deep-end power source (6 homers/.150 ISO in 2014). While the strikeout rate is creeping up, he still is drawing walks (13.9% walk rate) which is always pretty awesome in my book.