Ranking the available free agent catchers the Astros could sign this offseason

After a truly brutal season out of Martin Maldonado, it finally looks like the Houston Astros may be willing to turn the page at catcher. Maldy was a huge part of the Astros' success in recent years, but Father Time finally caught up with him and Houston made the commitment to make Yainer Diaz their primary catcher in 2024.

While it is certainly good news that the Astros are finally going with the strictly superior player at catcher and letting Maldonado hit free agency, there is still the matter of who is going to be backing Diaz up next season. Yainer is immensely talented, but he is still very young and having a strong back-up in the event that he falters who can also mentor him in how to manage a pitching staff needs to be a priority this offseason.

Ranking the Astros' free agent options at catcher

It is fortunate that Houston doesn't need a primary catcher next season because this free agent crop of catchers is decidedly lacking in everyday guys. However, there are a number of quality back-up options out there at the moment who could fit the mold for what the Astros should be looking for going into the 2024. Instead of ranking each catcher against each other, this is going to be more of a tier list format as there just isn't enough to differentiate each individual free agent catcher. If you notice a free agent isn't listed, it is probably best to assume that said player probably shouldn't be considered.

Anyways, enough on the rules here. Let's look at this year's free agent catcher class.

Quality back-up catchers on the free agent market

Victor Caratini
Manny Piña
Yasmani Grandal
Mike Zunino
Austin Hedges
Gary Sanchez
Tucker Barnhart

This is the group that, hopefully, the Astros will be picking from this offseason. These are all guys that may not be good enough to be primary catchers under ideal circumstances, but have the experience to pass along useful information to Diaz about how to succeed as a catcher while being able backstops themselves.

The name to keep an eye on here is Victor Caratini. While he had to yield to the arrival of William Contreras in Milwaukee last season, Caratini put up strong defensive and framing numbers while putting up a reasonable .711 OPS at the plate. Caratini has been highly regarded as a back-up catcher for a while now and may be the best of the Astros' options here.

Gary Sanchez hits absolute tanks, but isn't particularly strong in the field and his hit tool is very, very suspect. If the Astros are looking for a high offensive upside backup, Mike Zunino is probably the best option as he has shown to be a decent defender in the past while also possessing the ability to hit the ball out of the park.

Yasmani Grandal's best days are behind him, but he isn't uninteresting as a backup option with Hedges, Barnhart, and Piña also all having experience as quality back-ups with some shortcomings at the plate that have kept them from getting primary catching roles.

Break in case of emergency catching options

Curt Casali
Jorge Alfaro
Martin Maldonado
Tom Murphy
Carlos Perez
Chad Wallach

These are the guys that are the bottom of the barrel options at catcher that would be acceptable, but would be pretty disappointing given the better options available on the market. If one of these guys ends up getting the nod, Astros fans better hope that Diaz starts at least 100+ games at catcher in 2024.

Jorge Alfaro has a lot of physical tools that you normally don't see at catcher (he can really run) and he had some nice seasons in 2018 and 2019, but he has not adjusted well to being a backup catcher and has been a well below average player for the last few seasons and struggled to win a back-up job at all last year.

The elephant in the room here is Martin Maldonado who the Astros have shown some interest in despite the fact that Houston didn't give him an extension ahead of free agency. The primary concern in having Maldy around is that the Astros may be tempted to play him far more than they should. However, with Dusty Baker's retirement, there is less of a chance that that would happen if Maldonado were re-signed and he could, in theory, give Diaz the best insight into Houston's pitching staff of all the available options.

That said, it is probably best if Houston looks for better options. Maldy fell off a cliff so badly last year that the intangible benefits of keeping him around on the roster just don't outweigh his current deficiencies on the field on both sides of the ball.

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