The Top Ten Catchers in 2022

Player Name

Welcome to our official positional rankings for the 2022 MLB season! In this series, you’ll find our rankings for the best players at each position in the MLB.

By Zach Smith

The catching position is challenging to order, to say the least. We placed heavier weight on defense but rewarded catchers for well above average offensive prowess.

We have accounted for defensive and offensive production since 2019, with an added emphasis on 2021. Here is our list of the ten best projected catchers in 2022:

Jacob Stallings – MIA Travis d’Arnaud – ATL Yadier Molina – STL Max Stassi – LAA Tyler Stephenson – CIN

Honorable Mentions:

There’s some excitement here with Carson Kelly. He was the strongest piece of the return in the Paul Goldschmidt deal with St. Louis in 2019, and he’s been solid since.

10. Carson Kelly Arizona Diamondbacks

Omar Narvaez was the number one pitch framer in 2020 and 2021 and ranked in the top 5 of both FRAA and CDA. If not Realmuto, Omar Narvaez is the best defender at the position. 

9. Omar Narvaez Milwaukee Brewers

This guy was the butt of jokes before 2021. Now, he’s a top-10 catcher in baseball. Zunino hit a career-high 33 home runs and blew out his previous best with a .559 slugging percentage.

8. Mike Zunino Tampa Bay Rays

Murphy’s a top-five defender among catchers. He ranks in the top-five of basically every catching metric we have, but he’ll need to get his batting average up to climb the list.

7. Sean Murphy  Oakland Athletics

Contreras hammers baseballs, as he consistently peppers balls north of 110 miles per hour. All-in-all, he logged his third 20-homer season while getting on base at a .340 clip.

6. Willson Contreras Chicago Cubs

When Garver is on the field, he pillages baseballs like few catchers in the sport. Since 2019, Garver has had the same wRC+ as Will Smith and is a tick higher than Salvador Perez at 135.

5. Mitch Garver Texas Rangers

Salvy is nowhere close to what he once was defensively, but he also hit 48 homers and drove in 121 last year. He played in 161 games in 2021, with 124 of them coming behind the plate.

4. Salvador Perez Kansas City Royals

Realmuto is among the elite catchers, especially on defense. What drops him to three is the downturn of offense, as he’s striking out more than he once was.

3. J.T. Realmuto Philadelphia Phillies

In the second half of the season, Grandal hit .337 with a .481 OBP and an OPS at 1.150. He’s not a prototypical “framer”, but he’s one of the most reliable defensive catchers in the game.

2. Yasmani Grandal Chicago White Sox

Smith is the best catcher on the planet. He’s made vast improvements on defense, and he ranks 15th in Savant framing metrics and top-10 on average between FRAA and CDA.

1. Will Smith  Los Angeles Dodgers