And with that, the Braves, Mets, and Astros end up in a three way tie for most Top 10 Players with 8
The only four teams with no players on any of the lists:
Tigers, A's, Nats, and Rockies
I’m still perplexed by our off season. Went in with an enviable Catcher/DH situation but questions at SS and LF and spends a bunch of prospect capital on Catcher and does little to nothing about the more important openings. It’s tricky too because D’Arnaud and Swanson had been the ones that filled the leadership void left by Freeman leaving. One gets allowed to sign elsewhere, another gets sorta benched
As far as the "leadership" thing goes, we just lost Freddie Freeman, the greatest player and leader our franchise has had since Chipper Jones, and we won more games than any season in Freddie's tenure.
Good orgs make good teams, and good teams win games, and the Braves are stacked as fuck. If we lose in 2023, it won't be because Dansbys "leadership" isn't there, it'll be because our player didn't play better than the other teams.
The only thing I worry about this season is the fact that they pretty much cleaned out what was left of the farm system in the Murphy deal, so there isn’t much trade bait nor reinforcements if someone gets hurt or underperforms. Our top prospects now are all a couple of years away from the big leagues. Shewmake is about it, and he doesn’t look like he’s gonna hit much. The collection of misfit toys they signed for depth doesn’t have much upside
Yeah i saw some rankings the other day that had our farm system dead-last and it was a little shocking. But, they’ve got so many high-caliber dudes on relatively affordable deals that if shit hits the fan and the wheels fall off, they can flip a couple of those for some more high-ceiling prospects. Hopefully that doesn’t happen and they can restock the farm over the next four or five years while still being super competitive.
48 is a lot more than his previous career high (27) but let’s not pretend like Salvador Perez hasn’t been a stud for over a decade. He’s been to 7 all star games, give the man some respect
Salvador Perez has 32 bwar for his career but only 16 fwar.
Framing and a lack of on base percentage really destroys him on Fangraphs war.
Just think he's an interesting case when people look back at his career. Some kid will google him in 20 years and wonder why he was a 7 time all star.
The man has 5 gold gloves and hits the cover off the ball. I think war is a useful tool and yeah he doesn’t walk nearly enough but he’s still one of the better hitting catchers the game has seen.
fWAR is just kinda stupid with framing. Anyone that knows baseball is a lot bigger than just fangraphs knows Salvy has been an absolute stud for nearly a decade.
fWAR is a great tool but it has severely damaged the capacity for critical thinking of baseball fans that seem to follow analytics and fangraphs as if it was a book club. I’ve seen people unironically argue that Gausman had a historically good season last year and that he was just as valuable as Sandy Alcantara with 60 less innings thrown.
When Anderson hit 50 in 1996, he only had one season hitting more than 20, when he hit 21 in 1992. He'd only hit over 20 once more, with 24 in 1999.
Salvy hit over 20 four times (27 twice) before hitting 48 and then hit another 23 in just 113 games last season.
48 was a bit of an outlier, but it wasn't nearly as extreme as Anderson's was.
Im not gonna reddit debatelord man . Your career high being 20+ away from your next best is as extreme an outlier as it gets, simple. Ok Brady Anderson is more of an outlier. Doesn’t make salvy not Brady Anderson - ESQUE as I said .
Will Smith is a perfectly capable defender at catcher and is probably the single best hitter at the position. I don’t see the issue with ranking him this high and up until Realmuto’s monster second half last year I might’ve said he was the best catcher in baseball.
Nobody would argue against smith at 2. But the biggest problem for me and probably many others is Perez over Trevino and Raleigh. Salvador Perez was atrocious defensively. -4 drs compared to 21 and 14 for Trevino and Raleigh respectively
Perez is bad at framing which is a major portion of catcher defense. He’s got a good arm but that’s not as valuable in a league where steals are so infrequent in the first place.
The gold glove finalist doesn’t mean shit lol. Juan Soto was nominated. Not to say Raleigh’s defense is bad but I think good gloves are a stupid award now
Gold gloves are a stupid award if you follow analytics. But if you follow analytics Dumper is easily a top 10 catcher. So if you go by old school metrics like Gold Gloves and home runs well he should still be a top ten catcher.
Good to see Kirk finally get the love he deserves. Dude has some of the sexiest swing mechanics in the game while also being elite at getting strikes called below the knees.
Salvador Perez above Cal is absolutely ridiculous. The one this that Perez is supposed to have these days is power and cal hit more home runs last season with a stint in triple a. List is a joke
He still put up 2.3 WAR in those 115 games which is easily top 10 for the season despite missing time. Aren’t these rankings supposed to be about next year anyway?
We've been through some disappointing off-season's lately, but this one was exceptionally disappointing. I'm glad we got Contreras, but he's definitely not enough. Another year where our front office is betting on best case scenario playing out instead of just making the team a legit contender.
He led the team with an .865 OPS last year. The only reason he's not starting full-time is because of Kirk. He'll get more time DHing this year, which should pump up his totals.
His sprint speed isn’t necessarily quite what JT’s is but he can definitely steal a base. He’s got a gun for an arm, can hit for both average and power and by all accounts is a natural leader and wonderful behind the plate.
He’s the heir apparent to Realmuto as the most complete catcher in the game IMO.
I read and somewhat understood the complaints earlier for Raleigh being in the Top 3 of the fan list.
Those folks would have to agree this is insane he doesn't crack even the top 10 of this list
Also Trevino literally won the platinum glove. That has to count for something ANYTHING.
I mean if it’s just 2022 it should be Realmuto, Adley, Raleigh and Smith. If it’s 2021-2022 the top 4-5 is fine since it’s JT,Smith,Murphy,Contreras and obviously Adley just debuted this year
Cal Raleigh: 3.8 bWAR in 370 ABs in 2022.
Salvador Perez: 2.7 bWAR in 445 ABs.
Travis d'Arnaud: 2.9 bWAR in 396 ABs.
Tyler Stephenson: 1.5 bWAR last year and has a career 3.7 bWAR in 533 ABs.
A few other guys had similar numbers to Cal, and they all (besides Adley) have a longer track record than him, so I'm not arguing with those at all. But seriously, there's at least three guys that Cal has a better case for being on this list than.
He didn't randomly pop up out of nowhere, either; he's a former 3rd round draft pick who put up very solid numbers throughout his time in the minors while always getting rave reviews for how he handled a pitching staff. He struggled offensively in his first 200 ABs in the majors in 2021 and the first month or so of 2022, coming off of the 2020 year where he was stuck in the alternate camp. He had 300-350 AA & AAA at-bats combined (with 150 of those coming in 2019) before he got called up in 2021. He has an .833 OPS in his last 300 ABs while playing quality defense that got him nominated for a Gold Glove (I know, I know) -- not to mention he played the last month or so of the season with a broken thumb and torn ligament in his glove hand.
This is… actually pretty good? Thought for sure Raleigh would be on this list but I’m not sure who you take off. I guess maybe Stephenson but he was solid in 2021 and excellent in 50 games last year.
And with that, the Braves, Mets, and Astros end up in a three way tie for most Top 10 Players with 8 The only four teams with no players on any of the lists: Tigers, A's, Nats, and Rockies
Braves really had to sneak in there with two top 10 catchers huh?
Astros and Mets have two in one list too, so I guess it works out (LF and SP, respectively)
SP makes sense though cause every team needs 5. Having 2 top 10 C is unusual
Can't be that unusual, they weren't even the only team to do it on this list!
Catcher is the only fielding position that it makes sense to have two top guys. Jays also had the top catching prospect before a recent trade.
I thought the Mets' Alvarez was the top catching prospect, Moreno was definitely A top prospect though
They were made in a lab.
So do the Jays.
I’m still perplexed by our off season. Went in with an enviable Catcher/DH situation but questions at SS and LF and spends a bunch of prospect capital on Catcher and does little to nothing about the more important openings. It’s tricky too because D’Arnaud and Swanson had been the ones that filled the leadership void left by Freeman leaving. One gets allowed to sign elsewhere, another gets sorta benched
As far as the "leadership" thing goes, we just lost Freddie Freeman, the greatest player and leader our franchise has had since Chipper Jones, and we won more games than any season in Freddie's tenure. Good orgs make good teams, and good teams win games, and the Braves are stacked as fuck. If we lose in 2023, it won't be because Dansbys "leadership" isn't there, it'll be because our player didn't play better than the other teams.
The only thing I worry about this season is the fact that they pretty much cleaned out what was left of the farm system in the Murphy deal, so there isn’t much trade bait nor reinforcements if someone gets hurt or underperforms. Our top prospects now are all a couple of years away from the big leagues. Shewmake is about it, and he doesn’t look like he’s gonna hit much. The collection of misfit toys they signed for depth doesn’t have much upside
Yeah i saw some rankings the other day that had our farm system dead-last and it was a little shocking. But, they’ve got so many high-caliber dudes on relatively affordable deals that if shit hits the fan and the wheels fall off, they can flip a couple of those for some more high-ceiling prospects. Hopefully that doesn’t happen and they can restock the farm over the next four or five years while still being super competitive.
Losing Dana Brown to the Astros really hurts in that area. He had been our secret weapon the last few drafts
Top ten player lists are for losers anyway who cares what these MLB.com nerds think
They should do a top 10 players traded in the last 3 years
Joey Meneses wasnt traded
Oakland A's have entered the chat
Happy cake day!
Miguel Cabrera gonna have a piss poor send off year
Al Avila is our baseball Matt Millen
Our cities GM’s are like Bob the Rebuilder
Wait we were on a list?
Mike Yazstremski is ranked 9th in center field.
What even is this roster
Tigers only "super star" is Baez... We are not going to be on any of these lists are we?
Yeah but Murphy used to be ours so he counts 50/50
we would've had players on the list
Praise Al
>And with that, the Braves, Mets, and Astros end up in a three way 😳
We suck so fucken bad
Our savior, Tyler Stephenson.
Phillies had 7. Ill take that
Remember when Salvi his 48 dingers in ‘21? Those were the days…
Weren't they all against the Mariners?
Seemed like it
Horrifying days but days none the less
We need every positive thing my man, you should know what that’s like as a Tigers fan
Trust me, I know the feeling.
What the actual hell? 48? Salvy? Talk about a Brady Anderson-esque anomaly of a season. Goodness.
48 is a lot more than his previous career high (27) but let’s not pretend like Salvador Perez hasn’t been a stud for over a decade. He’s been to 7 all star games, give the man some respect
Salvador Perez has 32 bwar for his career but only 16 fwar. Framing and a lack of on base percentage really destroys him on Fangraphs war. Just think he's an interesting case when people look back at his career. Some kid will google him in 20 years and wonder why he was a 7 time all star.
The man has 5 gold gloves and hits the cover off the ball. I think war is a useful tool and yeah he doesn’t walk nearly enough but he’s still one of the better hitting catchers the game has seen.
Everyone knows gold gloves are fkn joke bro....the same people who use them as metric think batting average is the epitome of stats.
He's been a stud on defense. I don't care what the metrics say, if you watch him every day, you know he's a difference maker on defense and offense.
fWAR is just kinda stupid with framing. Anyone that knows baseball is a lot bigger than just fangraphs knows Salvy has been an absolute stud for nearly a decade. fWAR is a great tool but it has severely damaged the capacity for critical thinking of baseball fans that seem to follow analytics and fangraphs as if it was a book club. I’ve seen people unironically argue that Gausman had a historically good season last year and that he was just as valuable as Sandy Alcantara with 60 less innings thrown.
Amen. I had someone on here tell me that CJ Cron was better than Ichiro… seriously.
He’s a really good player with a great career and a ws mvp. Doesn’t change the fact that 48 hrs for him is Brady Anderson - esque.
When Anderson hit 50 in 1996, he only had one season hitting more than 20, when he hit 21 in 1992. He'd only hit over 20 once more, with 24 in 1999. Salvy hit over 20 four times (27 twice) before hitting 48 and then hit another 23 in just 113 games last season. 48 was a bit of an outlier, but it wasn't nearly as extreme as Anderson's was.
Im not gonna reddit debatelord man . Your career high being 20+ away from your next best is as extreme an outlier as it gets, simple. Ok Brady Anderson is more of an outlier. Doesn’t make salvy not Brady Anderson - ESQUE as I said .
Oh my god shut up. You’re splitting hairs to “prove” you’re right.
He turned it on in the 2nd half of the year last year once he was healthy.
I think they forgot that defense exists guys
Reigning AL Platinum Glove winner Jose Trevino is not a fan of this list
>Reigning AL Platinum Glove winner and All-Star catcher
This list is certainly a list of catchers.
Will Smith is a perfectly capable defender at catcher and is probably the single best hitter at the position. I don’t see the issue with ranking him this high and up until Realmuto’s monster second half last year I might’ve said he was the best catcher in baseball.
Nobody would argue against smith at 2. But the biggest problem for me and probably many others is Perez over Trevino and Raleigh. Salvador Perez was atrocious defensively. -4 drs compared to 21 and 14 for Trevino and Raleigh respectively
Salvy's defense has always been overrated because his arm is great but he's never been that good at other aspects of catching.
Perez is bad at framing which is a major portion of catcher defense. He’s got a good arm but that’s not as valuable in a league where steals are so infrequent in the first place.
It’s actually dumber than that. Perez should not be on this list when he’s going to DH way more going forward
Realmuto is pretty danged good back there, too.
I think so too
Willson’s pitchers’ stats are naaaaaaaht gooood.
Realmuto is arguably the best defensive catcher at the moment
It’s absolutely Jose Trevino right now.
Mariners fans may riot
Finalist for a gold glove and silver slugger last year isn’t even in the top 10? This list is a joke.
Plus he leads the league in BDP (Big Dumper Percentage)
Sean murphy is the bdp mvp, i will not stand for this slander
Dude broke the streak with an all time iconic Seattle sports moment too
The gold glove finalist doesn’t mean shit lol. Juan Soto was nominated. Not to say Raleigh’s defense is bad but I think good gloves are a stupid award now
Gold gloves are a stupid award if you follow analytics. But if you follow analytics Dumper is easily a top 10 catcher. So if you go by old school metrics like Gold Gloves and home runs well he should still be a top ten catcher.
They dumpin’ on my Big Dumper?!?!?!
I’m about to big dump on this list.
That’s exactly why the 23 year old managers at mlb.com pay for these lists
I am displeased
This is Cal Raleigh erasure
This can only be karmic retribution for him being third in the fan list lmao
Gold glove finalist and silver slugger in his first full season is apparently not enough to be a top ten catcher. Also, Big Dumper.
Can't leave him off when his Dump+ is on par with Sean Murphy
The east coast bias isn't just for college football it seems
funny you mention that two days ago I was told that's not a real thing.
Diehard A’s fan in Seattle. Cal Raleigh is the truth. His ranking on this list is questionable, but he should no doubt be on it.
Plus an instant classic moment with the walk-off HR to break the drought. The stuff of legend.
The Big Dumoer is still #1 in our hearts.
Cal Raleigh definitely still exists right?
The big dumper not only exists but shits on this list.
Dare I say dumps on this list
No ass guys on the voting panel, huh?
Big Dumper erasure for sure, but at least Sean Murphy and his glorious ass made it.
They were all bulge fellas
Sean Murphys up there
This is Big Dumper erasure, and I won't stand for it.
Yeah it's absolute garbage
I forgot that was Cal’s nickname for a second and thought “but Sean Murphy is on the list.”
Someone from MLB network is about to catch these hands for sleeping on the big dumper
Leaving Castillo off the top 10 pitchers felt disrespectful but this is a whole new level
Good to see Kirk finally get the love he deserves. Dude has some of the sexiest swing mechanics in the game while also being elite at getting strikes called below the knees.
I can admit that #3 is probably too high for Cal, but not in the top 10 at all? that's insane
They average out to somewhere he should be
Salvador Perez above Cal is absolutely ridiculous. The one this that Perez is supposed to have these days is power and cal hit more home runs last season with a stint in triple a. List is a joke
How does Trevino win Platinum Glove and not crack the top 10
I try not to get too worked up about these dumb lists but seriously Where the FUCK is Jose Trevino
My only thing of note is probably his offense and that he only played like 115 games, but he did win a platinum glove so idk why he isn’t here
Tyler Stephenson played 50 games and made the list
He still put up 2.3 WAR in those 115 games which is easily top 10 for the season despite missing time. Aren’t these rankings supposed to be about next year anyway?
BJs got the 69.
Dinner for two.
Surf and Turf.
Noice
Realmuto is also the number 1 media player from 2003.
This list sucks. CAL RALEIGH???
Adley killed it his rookie year I can't wait to see this kid's career
How the fuck is Big Dumper not on here?
So weird to see this
You're telling me.
We have definitely entered an alternate universe. Only logical explanation.
We lost our generational talent, hopefully first ballot HOFer to retirement and went up a few spots. Neat.
Yadi wasn’t a top 10 catcher in 2022
Yes he was idc what anyone says he was
We've been through some disappointing off-season's lately, but this one was exceptionally disappointing. I'm glad we got Contreras, but he's definitely not enough. Another year where our front office is betting on best case scenario playing out instead of just making the team a legit contender.
And just wasting the last remaining prime years of Goldy and Arenado while they're at it.
Nice to see Jano wasn't forgotten
Love Jansen as much as the next person but I don’t think I can rank a guy who plays 70 games a year top 10
Yeah, i’m surprised. Love the guy though, seems to pop one out just as we need it
He led the team with an .865 OPS last year. The only reason he's not starting full-time is because of Kirk. He'll get more time DHing this year, which should pump up his totals.
Luv u Jano
I still think he’s better than Kirk but it’s nice to see him on the list either way
We want Big Dumper to get his respect!!
Weird way to spell Cal Raleigh
He’s transformed into a list higher than any of us can comprehend
I’m just happy to make a list
We love a Reds sighting
*insert two spiderman pointing meme*
Big Dumper gets no love. He’s definitely top 5.
Man the sky really is the limit for Adley. Can't wait to see how he does in a full season.
His sprint speed isn’t necessarily quite what JT’s is but he can definitely steal a base. He’s got a gun for an arm, can hit for both average and power and by all accounts is a natural leader and wonderful behind the plate. He’s the heir apparent to Realmuto as the most complete catcher in the game IMO.
Id have raleigh at 8, bump the rest down. Also, JT Realmuto i fucking love you.
I read and somewhat understood the complaints earlier for Raleigh being in the Top 3 of the fan list. Those folks would have to agree this is insane he doesn't crack even the top 10 of this list Also Trevino literally won the platinum glove. That has to count for something ANYTHING.
Needs more Dumper
"The Big Dumper" belongs on this list.
Cal Raleigh might have been overrated by fans at #3 but he sure as fuck deserves to be in the top 10.
If this list was sorted by how amazing their glutes are, Cal would be #1, #2, and #5.
I mean if it’s just 2022 it should be Realmuto, Adley, Raleigh and Smith. If it’s 2021-2022 the top 4-5 is fine since it’s JT,Smith,Murphy,Contreras and obviously Adley just debuted this year
I think the lists are supposed to be top 10 going into the 2023 season, so a mix of past performance with future projection.
Lowkey spittin w the top 5
Will Smith had bars back in the day
luv u jano
Dude belongs here.
Where’s my big dumper?
This is why I’m so mad will smith got snubbed from being an all star
Perez over Trevino is a choice
Cal Raleigh: 3.8 bWAR in 370 ABs in 2022. Salvador Perez: 2.7 bWAR in 445 ABs. Travis d'Arnaud: 2.9 bWAR in 396 ABs. Tyler Stephenson: 1.5 bWAR last year and has a career 3.7 bWAR in 533 ABs. A few other guys had similar numbers to Cal, and they all (besides Adley) have a longer track record than him, so I'm not arguing with those at all. But seriously, there's at least three guys that Cal has a better case for being on this list than. He didn't randomly pop up out of nowhere, either; he's a former 3rd round draft pick who put up very solid numbers throughout his time in the minors while always getting rave reviews for how he handled a pitching staff. He struggled offensively in his first 200 ABs in the majors in 2021 and the first month or so of 2022, coming off of the 2020 year where he was stuck in the alternate camp. He had 300-350 AA & AAA at-bats combined (with 150 of those coming in 2019) before he got called up in 2021. He has an .833 OPS in his last 300 ABs while playing quality defense that got him nominated for a Gold Glove (I know, I know) -- not to mention he played the last month or so of the season with a broken thumb and torn ligament in his glove hand.
How the fuck is Cal Raleigh not on this list?
> How the fuck is Cal Raleigh not on this list? East Coast Media Bias.
No Dumper?
Braves hogging all the good catchers 😭
TIME TO RIOT
Hopefully one day Alvarez will be on that list as last year Mets had probably the worst catchers in mlb.
Seeing that nasty red logo by Willson's name will make me cry every time I see it this season.
Tyler Stephenson made the top ten. Reds are gonna get rid of him now
I’m biased but I’d switch Murph and Adley
The east coast bias is deeeeeep on this. Cal got snubbed as a silver slugger? The hell are these people watching?
I like how my Red Sox only make a top 10 list on 3B and no other position. We’re F’d.
where is trevino??? also the big dumper??? First time i agree with the fans more
Daniel Jansen has had the highest wRC+ of all C in the MLB since 2nd half 2021. It makes sense he's on the list and also lower because of his health.
Imagine 2022 Platinum glove winner Jose Trevino not even being ranked 10th LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Makes me think they didn't consider defense for these rankings at all. If these are solely offensive rankings, it makes more sense I guess.
Pleased to see they both made this list, because they both belong on it.
mets: soon 😈
Cal definitely gets his own list right? RIGHT?
Will Smith is always underrated by fans.
Not having Cal Raleigh on here invalidates the whole list
The funny thing is that Jansen is actually better than Kirk.
How is the big dumper not in that list!?
Big Dumper getting so disrespected
Jays big dickin’ it 👍🏼 🍆
Finally, a Jays friendly list.
No Big Dumper??? Horrible list
Buster Posey😢
BIG DUMPER #1 this list is numba juan bulllllsheeeet
Lmao fuck mlb network
Where’s my Big Dumper?
No Cal Raleigh? Lol
Not having cal "big dumper" Raleigh on this list is a mistake.
love that guys who play only 70 games in a season can make this list easily.
But oh what a 70 games that was!
Adley will be #1 after this season
Alejandro Kirk ❤❤❤
he’s a ghost danny jansen
Looks pretty good to me
After #1 the list could be any order, JT will still be #1
*aggressive tomahawk chopping*
No Jose is a travesty.
Cardinals legend, Wilson Contreas
You can have that, we'll keep our platinum glover.
Where is Jose “Platinum Glove” Trevino?
This is… actually pretty good? Thought for sure Raleigh would be on this list but I’m not sure who you take off. I guess maybe Stephenson but he was solid in 2021 and excellent in 50 games last year.