The 2013 Fantasy Baseball Rankings start with one of the most dynamic positions in sports, the catcher position. A baseball catcher needs to not only know offense and defense, but pitching as well. They are often one of the most important players on the roster and often overlooked come fantasy time.
This past season was the best year since 2008 for backstops when it came to fantasy output, thus the position has some depth to it; however, you do not want to wait too long to draft a catcher or you will be left looking at the waiver wire on a weekly basis.
There are a few roster moves that everyone should be aware of:
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- Mike Napoli leaving Texas for Boston, adding some much needed power to the Red Sox lineup. The question is -- where will he play? The team has several catchers, including Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who joins Napoli as one of the nine (9) catchers to hit 20 or more homers in 2012.
- Victor Martinez returns from a knee injury; however, Fantasy owners need to monitor their league settings to determine when he will gain eligibility at the catcher position again. For instance, ESPN owners can play him at catcher immediately, while Yahoo owners may have to wait and see.
- A.J. Pierzynski left the Pale Hose of Chicago for another hitter-friendly park in Arlington, Texas. This move makes things tough for Geovany Soto's prospective Fantasy owners while opening the door for Tyler Flowers, who now takes over the starting backstop for the White Sox.
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Without further adieu, here are the Top 40 Catchers based upon their projected value for 2013:
Updated 3/1/2013
| Rank | Player | Team | Score |
| 1 | Posey,Buster | SF | 75.19 |
| 2 | Napoli,Mike | BOS | 73.06 |
| 3 | Molina,Yadier | STL | 72.29 |
| 4 | Wieters,Matt | BAL | 68.65 |
| 5 | Santana,Carlos | CLE | 67.77 |
| 6 | Mauer,Joe | MIN | 67.12 |
| 7 | Rosario,Wilin | COL | 61.96 |
| 8 | Montero,Jesus | SEA | 60.77 |
| 9 | Lucroy,Jonathan | MIL | 56.20 |
| 10 | Montero,Miguel | ARI | 55.86 |
| 11 | Perez,Salvador | KC | 55.53 |
| 12 | Doumit,Ryan | MIN | 55.02 |
| 13 | Jaso,John | OAK | 52.30 |
| 14 | Ruiz,Carlos | PHI | 50.51 |
| 15 | Pierzynski,A.J. | TEX | 50.12 |
| 16 | McCann,Brian | ATL | 43.49 |
| 17 | Flowers,Tyler | CHW | 41.84 |
| 18 | Avila,Alex | DET | 41.73 |
| 19 | Iannetta,Chris | LAA | 40.21 |
| 20 | Saltalamacchia,Jarrod | BOS | 39.60 |
| 21 | Arencibia,J.P. | TOR | 37.69 |
| 22 | Martin,Russell | PIT | 33.60 |
| 23 | Grandal,Yasmani | SD | 29.33 |
| 24 | Brantly,Rob | MIA | 28.85 |
| 25 | Castro,Jason | HOU | 28.73 |
| 26 | Ellis,A.J. | LA | 28.40 |
| 27 | Suzuki,Kurt | WAS | 25.51 |
| 28 | Castillo,Welington | CHC | 25.37 |
| 29 | Ross,David | BOS | 25.02 |
| 30 | D Arnaud,Travis | NYM | 22.47 |
| 31 | Ramos,Wilson | WAS | 18.75 |
| 32 | Hanigan,Ryan | CIN | 18.16 |
| 33 | Mesoraco,Devin | CIN | 16.08 |
| 34 | Hayes,Brett | KC | 16.07 |
| 35 | Molina,Jose | TAM | 14.14 |
| 36 | Soto,Geovany | TEX | 13.94 |
| 37 | Pena,Brayan | DET | 11.73 |
| 38 | Lavarnway,Ryan | BOS | 11.64 |
| 39 | Baker,John | SD | 10.50 |
| 40 | Zunino,Mike | SEA | 10.14 |
Please see the original Fantasy Baseball article which helps explain the rankings system
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