The kids have all gone home for the summer and the NBA playoffs are finally over. Now, it is high time to start looking at the positional power rankings. We will start with catchers and slowly move our way through the diamond. We will use the five basic statistics, but we will also rely heavily on one I call “real offensive value.”

There are others similar to this. For our purposes here, ROV is defined as batting average + secondary average / two. In other words, it is the marriage between batting average and everything else. The beauty of the statistic is that is designed to look like batting average. A .300 ROV is really good and probably makes a player worthy of an all-star bid depending on their position.

1. Buster Posey— San Francisco Giants

ROV: .334

Basic: .347/8/28/23/1 

Granted, the five basic categories are underwhelming. It isn’t his fault the Giants are having a down season. In addition to his .347 average, he’s also added 27 walks and has a robust .437 OBP. The runs and RBI will follow eventually.

2. Brian McCann— Houston Astros

ROV: .325

Basic: .265/9/22/31/1

Again, the counting numbers may not be great, but he is on pace to hit more than 20 home runs again. 21 walks obviously are the huge deal here as his walk rate is well over ten percent. The Astros lineup is as deep as any in the business, so if he stays healthy he should approach 80 RBI.

3. Gary Sanchez— New York Yankees

ROV: .317

Basic: .276/10/26/28/1

Everyone focuses on Aaron Judge and that is perfectly understandable, but there was a reason why they dealt McCann away. He missed a few weeks on the shelf and got off to a slow start, but the numbers are there for a huge sophomore season.

4. Tyler Flowers— Atlanta Braves

ROV: .284

Basic: .338/4/20/20/0

Flowers likely will not be this high the next time we look at the power rankings for catchers. He’s riding a good BABIP wave to success and that coupled with a fairly weak showing at catcher helps explain his ascent.

5. J.T. Realmuto— Miami Marlins

ROV: .279

Basic: .294/6/27/25/2

Realmuto is evolving as a player and for many fantasy owners that is bad news. In the past, he was a lock to steal ten or more bases, but those days appear to be long gone. Instead, his power game is blossoming to the tune of a 15 home run a year pace. The Marlins will certainly take the trade off.

6. Russell Martin— Toronto Blue Jays

ROV: .278

Basic: .218/5/20/11/0

Ah yes, the difference between real baseball and fantasy baseball rears its ugly head. For many, his 25 walks are a complete afterthought. Unfortunately, his .289 BABIP is an indication that there might not be a whole lot to go up in terms of average, but he still has decent pop and he gets on base.

7. Jason Castro— Minnesota Twins

ROV: .273

Basic: .218/6/17/18/0

Here we see another flawed player cut from the same cloth. Castro has been a double digit home run performer for several years now. He is on pace for a career high in walks and he doesn’t have to share time with Evan Gattis this season.

8. Salvador Perez— Kansas City Royals

ROV: .272

Basic: .274/13/27/35/0

In over 220 plate appearances, Perez has managed nine walks. So, he hits for decent average and has quite a bit of pop, but he has a sub .300 OBP overall over the last four seasons. The numbers are inflated, so part of this rating is betting on regression.

9. Yasmani Grandal— Los Angeles Dodgers

ROV: .265

Basic: .270/6/20/25/0

Grandal has been a low average/high walk/high power guy in the past. He’s elevated his average, but everything else is suffering. He still has more patience that guys like Perez, so we probably will see him move towards career norms.

10. Evan Gattis— Houston Astros

ROV: .256

Basic: .277/4/20/24/0

The backup catcher and part-time DH has cobbled enough plate appearances together to qualify. He definitely has fallen off power wise, but he is hitting for a better average. He also has improved his strikeout to walk ratio. The power should come eventually with increased playing time.