Up this week are my mostly-for-fun 2023 player rankings. I’ve done my best to list players where they’ll be 20-game eligible next year, and the free agents-to-be are listed without teams. Players with options for next year are still listed with their current teams if those options have a legitimate chance of being exercised. Those players are noted with asterisks.
Click to see other other preliminary 2023 rankings:
Top 300 | SP | RP | OF | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | C | DH
Catcher rankings
| 2023 | Catchers | Team | 2022 | July |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Will Smith | Dodgers | 2 | 1 |
| 2 | Alejandro Kirk | Blue Jays | 5 | 2 |
| 3 | Daulton Varsho | Diamondbacks | 4 | 3 |
| 4 | J.T. Realmuto | Phillies | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | Salvador Perez | Royals | 1 | 23 |
| 6 | Willson Contreras | 6 | 5 | |
| 7 | William Contreras | Braves | 48 | 16 |
| 8 | Tyler Stephenson | Reds | 9 | 9 |
| 9 | Adley Rutschman | Orioles | 15 | 8 |
| 10 | MJ Melendez | Royals | 30 | 6 |
| 11 | Sean Murphy | Athletics | 13 | 12 |
| 12 | Yasmani Grandal | White Sox | 8 | 19 |
| 13 | Keibert Ruiz | Nationals | 17 | 14 |
| 14 | Gary Sanchez | 10 | 7 | |
| 15 | Cal Raleigh | Mariners | 27 | 17 |
| 16 | Francisco Álvarez | Mets | NR | 49 |
| 17 | Ryan Jeffers | Twins | 31 | 21 |
| 18 | Christian Vazquez | 11 | 13 | |
| 19 | Danny Jansen | Blue Jays | 22 | 11 |
| 20 | Travis d’Arnaud | Braves | 14 | 10 |
| 21 | Luis Campusano | Padres | 39 | 35 |
| 22 | Jonah Heim | Rangers | 40 | 15 |
| 23 | Joey Bart | Giants | 26 | 42 |
| 24 | Victor Caratini | Brewers | 44 | 24 |
| 25 | Elias Diaz | Rockies | 12 | 22 |
| 26 | Nick Fortes | Marlins | 56 | 28 |
| 27 | Bo Naylor | Guardians | NR | NR |
| 28 | Jorge Alfaro | Padres | 23 | 20 |
| 29 | Gabriel Moreno | Blue Jays | 54 | 45 |
| 30 | Shea Langeliers | Athletics | 60 | 47 |
| 31 | Yan Gomes | Cubs | 20 | 39 |
| 32 | Jose Trevino | Yankees | NR | 27 |
| 33 | Sam Huff | Rangers | 33 | 43 |
| 34 | Carson Kelly | Diamondbacks | 18 | 34 |
| 35 | Austin Nola | Padres | 16 | 26 |
| 36 | Max Stassi | Angels | 36 | 30 |
| 37 | Mike Zunino | 19 | 36 | |
| 38 | Francisco Mejía | Rays | 28 | 25 |
| 39 | Eric Haase | Tigers | 21 | 29 |
| 40 | Iván Herrera | Cardinals | NR | NR |
| 41 | Omar Narvaez | 24 | 31 | |
| 42 | Andrew Knizner | Cardinals | 37 | 44 |
| 43 | Yainer Diaz | Astros | NR | NR |
| 44 | Tom Murphy | Mariners | 52 | NR |
| 45 | Christian Bethancourt | Rays | NR | 18 |
| 46 | Henry Davis | Pirates | NR | NR |
| 47 | Korey Lee | Astros | NR | NR |
| 48 | Jake Rogers | Tigers | 59 | NR |
| 49 | James McCann | Mets | 35 | 37 |
| 50 | Luis Torrens | Mariners | 34 | 40 |
| 51 | Connor Wong | Red Sox | 38 | NR |
| 52 | Curt Casali | 62 | 32 | |
| 53 | Riley Adams | Nationals | 45 | NR |
| 54 | Zack Collins | Blue Jays | 46 | NR |
| 55 | Jacob Stallings | Marlins | 42 | 46 |
- I’d have Mitch Garver 11th here, but since his arm injury limited him to 11 appearances behind the plate before he underwent season-ending surgery, he’s a DH-only and thus is listed in with the first basemen.
- It’s tempting to go even higher than 16th with Francisco Álvarez. Then again, it’s been 30 years since the last time a 21-year-old catcher (Alvarez will be 21 next year) reached double figures in homers (Ivan Rodriguez had exactly 10 in 1993). Joe Mauer, Salvador Perez and Brian McCann broke in at that age and had successful runs, though they were all midseason callups (McCann played 59 games, Perez 39 and Mauer 35). It seems likely that Alvarez will have to wait a little while next year, too, but it might be hard to hold him down for long.
- The Blue Jays are in a very enviable position here; Alejandro Kirk just started the All-Star Game, Danny Jansen is a Gold Glove-quality catcher hitting better than ever and Gabriel Moreno is right there with Alvarez as the game’s top catching prospect. The tough call will be whether to deal from that strength this winter. Jansen would place in the 12-15 range as a starting catcher elsewhere. If they instead trade Moreno in a deal for a top starter, he could be a top-15 catcher next year (either way, he should be a top-10 guy starting in 2024). If the Jays keep all three, then Jansen and Moreno would fall a few spots.
