2026 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers: Catcher

There are a few different approaches to consider when drafting the catcher position in fantasy baseball this year.

One could invest a great deal of draft capital into drafting Cal Raleigh, ranked 17th overall in our top 200, and not have to think about the position again. There is also a collection of catchers between picks 50-100 — like William Contreras, Shea Langeliers, and Ben Rice — who represent strong options early in drafts as well.

There are solid options if you wait until after pick 100, also. Will Smith continues to be a great hitter in a formidable Dodgers’ lineup. Drake Baldwin is the reigning NL Rookie of the Year. Adley Rutschman could be in for a bounce-back season at a discount. In 10-12 team leagues, these are viable options for your catcher slot to obtain later in drafts.

If you play in deeper or two-catcher leagues, things can start to get tricky once we get past the top 12 backstops.

Fortunately, we’ll look into the catchers that are currently being selected outside of the top 200 on the National Fantasy Baseball Championship (NFBC) platform. In doing so, we will identify who has the best potential to exceed value by using their average draft position (ADP) tool.

NFBC leagues are structured so that each roster has to start two catchers, which is why you’ll find catchers pushed so high up their draft boards. On FantasyPros, each of these backstops are ranked about 100 picks later in their one-catcher league redraft rankings.

You’ll notice that on many of our other sleeper pieces, we dive into players outside of the top 250, not 200. That would eliminate the top 22 catchers by ADP, so the pickings get extremely slim. To provide a bit more value with this piece, I’ll lower the threshold for a catcher to qualify as a sleeper.

J.T. Realmuto Is a Safe Option — No. 204 NFBC ADP, No. 291 FantasyPros

The best days of J.T. Realmuto’s career are now behind him, but that didn’t deter Philadelphia from signing the veteran to a three-year, $45 million contract this offseason. While he’s no longer the 20/20 threat he was at his peak, this meaningful investment assures us that he’s going to play often.

Last season was the worst that we had seen from Realmuto in a decade. The Phillies’ backstop totaled just 12 home runs with a .257 batting average, good for a 94 wRC+ over 550 plate appearances. The projections generally see Realmuto performing a bit better in 2026.

ZiPS is the projection system that sees the most improvement coming for Realmuto, forecasting him for 15 homers and a 104 wRC+ in 492 plate appearances.

Steamer does not take kindly to Realmuto, projecting him for just 390 plate appearances and a 93 wRC+. Steamer is significantly lower on Realmuto’s playing time than other projection outlets, which makes it an outlier in this case.

Overall, Realmuto is a replacement-level catcher in 10, 12, and even 14-team leagues. He doesn’t come with much upside at this stage in his career but has a decent floor. With that in mind, you can feel comfortable drafting him in deep leagues or as a second catcher because he’s going to accumulate plate appearances.

20-HR Catcher, Austin Wells — No. 222 NFBC ADP, No. 309 FantasyPros

Austin Wells may not be the highest-drafted, catcher-eligible player on the Yankees, but he’s going to be their primary backstop. Ben Rice is catcher-eligible for fantasy but is likely to function as New York’s primary first baseman. Wells’ only real competition for playing time will be J.C. Escarra.

Wells has his flaws as a hitter — his plate discipline is poor and he strikes out often. In spite of those negative attributes, he is able to hit for some pop.

Wells had an above-average hard-hit rate and barrel rate to go with good bat speed last season. On a Yankees team with dangerous hitters around him, Wells also has a good opportunity for gathering runs scored and RBI this coming season.

Projection systems seem to agree that Wells will hit around the .220s with close to 20 home runs in 2026. OOPSY likes Wells to hit .233 with 19 homers (104 wRC+) in 481 plate appearances, while THE BAT sees him batting just .216 with 17 home runs (90 wRC+).

If you’re in the market for power production from a catcher in deeper-league drafts, Wells is not a bad choice.

Projections Like Ryan Jeffers — NFBC ADP No. 253, FantasyPros No. 352

Ryan Jeffers has been an above-average hitter (by wRC+) in three consecutive seasons. On a desolate Twins roster, he should get many opportunities to hit between catcher and designated hitter.

In 2024, Jeffers mashed 21 homers but hit for just a .226 average, earning him a 106 wRC+. Last season, he seemed to change his approach a bit. In a similar amount of plate appearances, Jeffers hit just nine round-trippers while batting .266, good for a 113 wRC+. If Jeffers can reach a compromise between those two campaigns, he could be a real value at this spot.

Projections on the Minnesota backstop’s playing time seem to vary a bit, as ZiPS forecasts just 428 plate appearances for Jeffers while others have him over 500. What the projection systems do agree on is that Jeffers will be an average-or-better hitter.

Steamer really likes Jeffers on a per-game basis, projecting him for a .245 average with 16 home runs in just 462 plate appearances. Steamer values Jeffers as the 14th-best catcher (C14) by its projections, and he is being taken as C23.

If he were to receive the 500-plus plate appearances that other projection systems have him down for, while producing at that level, he could make a push to be a top 10 fantasy catcher.