Fantasy Baseball Bold Predictions 2025: MLB Catchers (ft. Ivan Herrera)
Since this will be the last fantasy baseball catcher spotlight before MLB Opening Day (the actual one), I’m here to bring you my 2025 fantasy baseball bold predictions for the upcoming season, focused on catchers.
Whether they are considered a fantasy baseball sleeper, or perhaps atop the 2025 fantasy baseball catcher rankings, they could find themselves front and center of my MLB bold predictions.
2025 Fantasy Baseball Bold Predictions: MLB Catchers
Yes, if you’ve seen some of the 2025 fantasy baseball mock drafts, we’ve done here at FantasyAlarm, you’ll know that my game plan for drafts this year in two-catcher setups is to attack the position early and get myself two studs.
However, I know most don’t play in two-catcher leagues, so we’ll focus on more than just the catchers with the earliest fantasy baseball ADP. Without further ado, let’s dive into my 2025 fantasy baseball bold predictions for the catcher position.
10 Catchers Hit 20+ Home Runs In 2025, Including Hunter Goodman
Steamer projections via FanGraphs have six catchers getting to 20 or more home runs. And, while our fantasy baseball projections here at FA have 16 (!!!) catchers doing it, there’s a few I don’t believe get there.
There are five MLB catchers who I think get to 20+ with 90+ percent confidence:
Then, we have the MLB catchers I’m 70-75 percent confident get to 20+ home runs:
We’re already at nine, and there’s guys like Ryan Jeffers who have more than enough pop to get there. However, sign me up for Hunter Goodman getting to 20+ for the first time in his career.
He’s going to catch a couple of games per week, and he swatted 15 home runs in just 75 games last year (273 ABs). He’s been red hot this spring, and if he can cut down on the strikeouts, he’s going to leave the yard with regularity.
He posted a 94th percentile max exit velocity last season, and along with making a good bit of hard contact, he lofts the ball at a high clip. Oh, half of his games are at Coors Field, and he could force the team’s hand to play every day, mixing in behind the dish, at first base, or in the outfield.
Ivan Herrera Leads All Qualified MLB Catchers In On-Base Percentage
Most fantasy baseball projections are very bullish on Herrera, but I’ll take it a step further and say that in his first full season as the primary MLB catcher on the Cards, Herrera leads the position with a .365+ OBP.
In 72 games with the club last year, he hit .301 with a .372 OBP, thanks to a solid 9.7 percent walk rate. Through a handful of spring games, he has an 18.4 percent walk rate and a .474 OBP. His strikeout rate will hover around 20 percent, but he has a good feel for the strike zone (25.9 O-Swing% in 2024), and there’s not a ton of swing-and-miss in his game (9.4$ SwStr% in 2024).
A strong walk rate has followed Herrera at all levels of the minors, and his willingness to take a walk is warmly welcomed by fantasy managers who play in OBP leagues.
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