Sean Murphy, Ivan Herrera, More: Value At Catcher (2025 Fantasy Baseball)
The 2025 fantasy baseball season is upon us, and it couldn’t be more glorious! We have 2025 fantasy baseball rankings and 2025 fantasy baseball mock drafts flying around, so of course, it’s time to talk a little strategy!
You may not particularly like the fantasy baseball catcher position all too much, perhaps comparing it to the kicker or tight end in fantasy football. However, the position isn’t completely devoid of talent and production.
Fantasy Baseball C Rankings: Top Value Catchers For 2025
To help your 2025 prep, I’ll be here every Thursday over the next couple of weeks to highlight some notable fantasy baseball catcher options for your team this season.
Of course, make sure you build out your strategy, and check out our 2025 fantasy baseball catcher rankings so that you feel confident heading into your draft! This week, we’re going to highlight some late-round targets at the catcher position in 2025 fantasy baseball drafts.
Sean Murphy, Atlanta Braves - ADP: 220.17
March 4th, 2025 Update: Murphy will miss 4-6 weeks with a cracked rib. His ADP should fall a bit, but you'll need another option until he returns in the latter weeks of April.
As many of you all probably know from the Caught Stealing podcast, my strategy for this year features drafting my fantasy baseball catcher(s) early, but if you are going to sit back for a bit, Sean Murphy is a great target at his current fantasy baseball ADP.
He missed a good chunk of the time in the beginning of the year with an oblique injury, limiting him to just 72 games and a .193/.284/.352 slash line. Murphy admitted that he felt off for most of the year following the injury, and the numbers show it.
As we head into 2025, Murphy is in a great bounce-back spot in a very potent Atlanta offense. Prior to last year’s injury-impacted season, Murphy hit 17 or more home runs in three straight seasons, hitting at least .250 in two of those three.
While he’s likely more of a .230-.240 hitter this season, he should put up some solid numbers in this Atlanta offense, and give fantasy managers 15+ home runs, and perhaps cross the 70-RBI threshold for the first time in his career.
Ivan Herrera, St. Louis Cardinals - ADP: 240.4
Herrera is an ascending fantasy baseball catcher, and in 72 games last season, he slashed .301/.372/.428 with five home runs and five stolen bases. He figures to be St. Louis’ primary catcher in 2025, paving the way for more ABs as St. Louis prioritizes playing its younger talent.
He had a .293 xBA last season, with respectable marks in the barrel rate (9.0%) and hard hit rate (42.1%) departments, and he displayed a solid feel for the strike zone at a young age (26.6% chase rate).
The top-end max exit velocity is there (85th percentile in 2024), and a back injury that sent him to the IL effectively served as the end of his season in the stolen base department. Herrera is more of an opportunistic runner than a burner on the base paths, but he could flirt with 7-10 stolen bases this season, while giving you 8-12 home runs and a .260+ batting average.
Those numbers would more than pay off his C19 price tag, making him an attractive option in your 2025 fantasy baseball drafts.
Hunter Goodman, Colorado Rockies - ADP: 302
If you really, really wait at the position, you can take a dart throw with Goodman as your second fantasy baseball catcher. The team said he likely won’t catch more than a game or two per week, meaning he’ll need to get into the lineup elsewhere (likely OF or 1B) to give you enough ABs each week over the course of the season.
He has a career .490 SLG and .280 ISO against LHP, so the majority of his ABs this year will likely come against southpaws. If Goodman were to see consistent playing time, he could put up big time power numbers behind the dish.
The power has always been there throughout his time in the minors, and in just 70 games last season, he hit 13 home runs with a .417 SLG. Goodman is a very streaky hitter with some holes in his offensive game (28.6% K%, 3.6% BB%, and 16.9% SwStr%) but when he makes contact, that 12% barrel rate will shine at Coors Field.
At his current ADP as the 26th catcher off the board, we can focus on his 94th percentile max exit velocity from last year and fly ball profile at Coors Field, more so than dwell on his massive strikeout rate and propensity to leave the zone. This is a dart throw in the later rounds, so just keep that in mind for your 2025 fantasy baseball draft preparation.
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