In fantasy baseball drafts, the catcher position is oftentimes the position many love to dread. There are a few elite options, and many others provide meaningful numbers in one or maybe two categories. As you’ve likely seen in another article I wrote in the draft guide about drafting stolen bases, you’ll notice that stolen bases tend to dry up rather quickly in fantasy baseball drafts. While the catcher position isn’t flush with speed, there are ways to make up a little ground with guys behind the dish. So, in this first edition of the positional spotlight on fantasy baseball catchers, we are going to take a look at a couple of backstops who could join the 10/10 club this season, meaning that they hit at least 10 home runs, while also stealing at least 10 bases. I’d highly recommend doing some fantasy baseball mock drafts to test out different strategies, including drafting a catcher early, so that you can test out multiple builds.

Before we identify potential players to do so in 2024, let’s take a look back. Since 2012, there have been five seasons where a catcher has been a member of the 10/10 club. J.T. Realmuto has done it four times (2016, 2021, 2022, 2023) and Yadier Molina once (2012). Realmuto is still arguably the best power-speed combo behind the dish, and while he’s likely to do it again in 2024, let’s not include him in this article, and look at a couple of guys going after him in drafts that could join him in this club…

 

Gabriel Moreno, Arizona Diamondbacks

Prior to last season, Moreno had just 25 games at the big-league level under his belt. He proceeded to slash .284/.339/.408 with seven home runs, six stolen bases, and a 1.7 WAR in 111 games for Arizona. He doesn’t necessarily produce an average exit velocity or launch angle that seems indicative of extreme power numbers, but he makes a ton of contact overall, and he’ll run into enough balls to get to double-digit home runs, especially with some of those parks in his division. Over his final 136 plate appearances last season, he hit .311 with a .496 SLG, four home runs, and a 46 percent hard hit rate.

Moreno went six-for-eight in stolen base attempts last season, and he was pretty effective as a base stealer in the minors, posting a 72.7 percent success rate between Double-A and Triple-A. Arizona should remain rather aggressive on the base paths as a team, allowing Moreno to be optimistic. Our projections at Fantasy Alarm have him hitting 13 home runs, but only stealing four bases. I’m more optimistic on the latter, and he’s one of just a handful of players at the position that can join the 10/10 club in 2024.

Connor Wong, Boston Red Sox

Connor Wong was actually the next closest catcher to join the 10/10 club last year, as he fell just one home run and two stolen bases shy. He posted a 76th percentile sprint speed last season, and Wong went 8-for-10 in stolen base attempts, and after stealing just one base through the end of June, he ended up going 7-for-8 in stolen base attempts over the final 59 games. Simply put, he stole eight bases on 10 attempts while posting a .288 OBP last season, so any maturation inside the batter’s box will only help him further.

However, that is easier said than done. In 473 plate appearances at the big-league level, Wong has a career .231/.288/.382 slash line with a 5.9 percent walk rate, 33.2 percent strikeout rate, and 69.7 percent contact rate. He leaves the zone far too frequently, and he’s hovering around the league average in terms of exit velocity and barrel rate. However, he does have a great home park to help play up his offensive numbers a bit, and it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that six of his nine home runs came at home, and he had a .754 OPS and .427 SLG at home. Ideally, he cuts back on the strikeouts a bit, and can get on base more frequently, but there’s a path for Wong to join the 10/10 club this season, as Reese McGuire isn’t a substantial threat to Wong’s starting job.

Bo Naylor, Cleveland Guardians

Let’s talk about the 24-year-old Cleveland backstop and how he hit 11 home runs and stole five bases in just 67 games last season. He slugged .470 with a .232 ISO last season, and a fly ball dominant batted ball profile will lend itself to an elevated power floor, especially with a barrel rate that could flirt with double-digits in 2024. He handled righties far better than southpaws last season, to the tune of an .852 OPS and .257 ISO versus right-handers. Dating back to his time in the minors, the power output, or at least projectability was there, as he posted a .433 SLG in his minor league career, including a .506 mark in 126 games at Triple-A. Naylor showed advanced feel for the strike zone last season and getting the bat to the ball, and there’s enough power in there to easily reach double-digit round trippers.

Now, the stolen bases is where it gets interesting. He was a perfect 5-for-5 in stolen base attempts in just 67 games last season, and he’s had time in the minors where he put forth solid stolen base totals, most notably swiping 10 bags in 87 games at Double-A in 2021, and 20 stolen bases in 118 games between Double-A and Triple-A in 2022. Furthermore, four of his stolen bases came in an eight-game stretch in September, spanning just under two calendar weeks. He was around league average in sprint speed last year, so while he may be a bit streaky with his stolen bases, he has a chance to get to double-digits in his first full season as the starting catcher for the Guardians.

Henry Davis, Pittsburgh Pirates

Henry Davis won’t open the year with eligibility behind the dish, but even in a split with Yasmani Grandal to begin the season, in a league where you need 20 appearances to gain eligibility at the position, three appearances a week means he gets it within two months. In one-catcher leagues, you can draft a stopgap option until Davis can become your primary backstop. Pittsburgh needs his bat in the lineup more often than not, so expect him to play a ton overall, and those ABs will be valuable, especially when you consider the tools Davis boasts. In just 225 at-bats last year, he swatted 17 XBH, seven of which were home runs, not to mention a 41.4 percent hard hit rate and seven percent barrel rate. For what it’s worth, Davis’ average exit velocity on fly balls and home runs was higher than that of Freddie Freeman, Corbin Carroll, Adley Rutschman, and Jose Ramirez. Do with that what you will.

Additionally, he flashed a 72nd percentile sprint speed metric, despite going just 3-for-8 in stolen base attempts. He’ll need to improve on his efficiency, but Pittsburgh will need to manufacture some runs, so they should be rather aggressive as a team on the base paths. Despite the inefficiencies from last season, his average of 0.129 stolen base attempts per game comes out to 16.7 attempts across 130 games. He should easily exceed 10 home runs, but there’s a path for double-digit stolen bases with Davis as well.