Over the next few weeks, I’ll be rolling out my early top 10 lists for each position for the 2014 fantasy baseball season. Some of the names & positions may change as I do a little more research over the winter and as free agents and trade chips find their way into new lineups. I’ll note any changes that are made once we get a little closer to draft day.

We’ll be starting at arguably the toughest position to play on the diamond; catcher. We’ve been blessed the past few years with catchers that can actually hit. Where do all of these young bucks stack up in respect to the old guard?

My top 5 shouldn’t shock many people. I assume that those names will make up mostly everyone’s top 5 in 2014 – albeit in a different order. Barring any unforeseen changes, this will be Joe Mauer’s last season with catcher eligibility, so a somewhat difficult position to fill will become even more difficult in 2015.

Having Wilin Rosario at number two might shock a few people. Despite all of his flaws – low walk rate, high strikeout rate, and few games played – I couldn’t, in good faith, put anyone else there. He surpassed the 20 homer plateau again in 2013 despite only coming to the plate 466 times. He has some of the most prodigious power in the game, currently. The knock on him – aside from the flaws listed above – is that he might be a “Coors Field Product.” Don’t fret though, he isn’t. One of the other issues that has plagued Rosario, during the first few years of his career, has been his defense. Troy Renck, of the Denver Post, has reported that the Rockies’ may sign another catcher this offseason. Signing another catcher would allow Rosario to get at-bats at other positions; presumably RF and 1B as reported before. Adding in a little positional flexibility and the ability to hopefully get on the field a little more bolsters Rosario’s number two ranking a little more.

Steamer projects Rosario to smash 28 homers, throw in a handful of steals, and hit roughly .280. Those numbers – if he hits them – likely make him the number one catcher in 2014. It wouldn’t be too bad at 1B either, considering the corners aren’t providing as much pop as they used to.

Jonathan Lucroy is an interesting name on this list. He has the potential to be the number 1 fantasy catcher, in my opinion. He hits for an extremely high average and his power has blossomed with age. My favorite aspect of Lucroy’s game, however, is his approach. He drives the ball to all fields and he does it with authority.

That map along with his numbers from FanGraphs (listed below) tell the story of a man who knows exactly what he’s doing at the plate.

If Lucroy’s stellar 2012 season hadn’t been cut short by a pesky suitcase we might be looking at a consensus top 3 player at the catching position for 2014. Fortunately for us, there’s still a little time left to get a little surplus value out of the Brewers’ backstop.

The * on Brian McCann is because my ranking is somewhat dependent on where he ends up. If he ends up in an AL park where he is able to sneak in a few at-bats as a DH then he’ll rank there for me. If he, for some reason, stays in the NL then I’ll probably be shuffling him down a little.

I’ve written about Jason Castro before at The Fix. I still believe in him a great deal. There are rumors that he made be traded out of Houston – shocking I know – which could greatly help his counting stats if he’s inserted into a better lineup.

Aside from Lucroy, the main catcher I wanted to write in depth about was Wilson Ramos. He arrived into the bigs with a fair amount of hype. Since then, he’s had to battle an unfortunate string of injuries and even survive being kidnapped. Due to the injuries mentioned above, Ramos only appeared in 78 games in 2013. What a wonderful 78 games they were though. He managed a .272/.307/.470 line that was bolstered by 16 dingers. Those 16 homers might seem like a fluke, but Fangraphs’ Mike Podhorzer did a fantastic piece on Ramos and his ability to absolutely crush the ball in 2013. I agree with Mike, that if Ramos can stay on the field he has the potential to be a top 5 catcher. However, I’m much more comfortable slotting him into the back end of the top 10. While, the upside is there, I’m not sure it’s quite as large as some of the names I have listed in front of him.

Name To Watch

Devin Mesoraco has been on prospect lists for what seems like a lifetime. We’ve all been waiting on a breakout that gets less and less sure to happen every year. Playing time has always been an issue. Dusty Baker – the Reds’ manager during Mesoraco’s first few seasons – never felt comfortable giving him the full time catching job. Granted, Mesoraco didn’t exactly jump up and snatch the job. All of those variables seem like they’re going to change in 2014. Baker is out, Ryan Hannigan is being shopped as a trade chip, and Mesoraco is penciled in at the starter.

Despite the fact that he’s seemingly been around forever, Mesoraco is entering his age 26 season. We’ve gotten glimpses of his potential before, but what would 500+ PA of Mesoraco look like?

Steamers’ early 2014 projection of Mesoraco is as follows:

I took his Steamer projection and extrapolated it out over 500 PA to get an idea of what a full season of Mesoraco might look like. I believe that’s a fair projection – even if it does feel a little light based on his minor league pedigree. There’s no doubt that he’s struggled some at the major league level so far, but I’m cautiously optimistic that he could blow past his Steamer projection for 2014.