Fantasy Baseball Rankings 2012: Projecting Top Catchers by Season's End

Fantasy baseball is in full swing now that the season is finally here, and it's time for some end-of-the-season projections.

Catchers have a tougher road to the end of the season than do most players. The position is grueling, and the MLB season is long and arduous even for starting pitchers—and they only play once every five days.

The players atop the rankings now aren't necessarily the same ones you're going to see by the time this long season is over and done with.

Here are my projections for the top three catchers by season's end.

1. Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins

Mauer isn't happy about his 2011 campaign, and who can blame him? 

He spent the year battling injuries, pneumonia and the media, and as of this moment, he's the sixth-ranked catcher in the league, per FantasyPros.com.

He spoke to 1500 ESPN Twin Cities recently, saying: 

"

I've kind of been answering those questions all winter, and it left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths, and mine included. But it's a new year, and as soon as we can forget about 2011 the better, and focus on not letting it happen again.

"

Mauer is going to return to his All-Star form this year, and by the time it's all finished he will be the undisputed No. 1 catcher in baseball.

2. Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants

Posey is a stud, both in real life and in your fantasy league. According to FantasyPros.com, he is the consensus No. 4 catcher in the league right now.

The same site has projected some stats that seem a bit low to me. They have Posey's seasonal average at .289, but I'm projecting him to hit well over .300. 

They have Posey hitting 15 home runs, but I'm projecting his power numbers to go up this year to 20-plus.

Posey is going to finally produce the power numbers I hoped he was capable of for the last few years, and he will end the season as the second-ranked fantasy catcher in baseball.

3. Carlos Santana, Cleveland Indians

Santana is currently the No. 1-ranked catcher, according to FantasyPros.com. 

Santana hits for power, which is why he's ranked so high. His seasonal projections are simply a copy-paste of what he produced last year, from what I can tell. 

Santana is going to hit some rough patches this year.

He will hit a few slumps at the plate, and I don't expect him to crack .250 by the time it's all said and done. He will continue to hit for power, and I do see him hitting 22-plus home runs and 80-plus RBI, but Santana won't be as impressive as some have projected.

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