Spring training is underway in Arizona and Florida as teams start their prep for what should be another awesome MLB season. Not only is spring training a sign that warmer weather is on the way, it also means that it’s time to start working on your 2025 fantasy baseball strategy. Whether you prefer season-long leagues, DFS contests or DraftKings Best Ball, DK Network will have you covered all season long. Whichever format has your focus, catcher can be one of the trickiest positions to navigate. There aren’t a lot of great offensive options behind the plate, and catchers also wear down and can be more prone to injury. Getting a breakout producer at the position can be a key to success this season, so let’s take a look at some of the potential catcher breakouts to watch this year in spring training.
Earlier this week, I broke down my AL SP Breakouts, my NL SP Breakouts, my AL OF Breakouts, and my NL OF Breakouts. There’s plenty of exciting things to watch for across all the Grapefruit and Cactus League action over the next few weeks!
Ivan Herrera, St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals made the decision to move Willson Contreras to first base full time this season, which opens up regular playing time behind the plate for both Herrera and Pedro Pages. Herrera has the better fantasy upside of the two, and he could quickly establish himself as a top-10 catcher in the league as one of this year’s top catcher breakouts.
Herrera is still just 24 and will be entering his first full season in the MLB. He played 72 games last season and hit an impressive .301 with five home runs, 27 RBI and a .351 wOBA. In parts of three seasons in Triple-A, he hit .281 with 21 homers in 175 games, so there’s good average potential with plenty of pop in his bat.
Last season, Herrera had a .366 xwOBA, which indicates with some different bounces, he could be even better in 2025. With a more regular workload behind the plate, he should settle in as the next in a long line of productive Cardinals’ backstops.
Right now, Herrera is still being drafted outside a normal starting catching spot in most leagues, but he has the potential to be one of the year’s top catching breakouts.
Hunter Goodman, Colorado Rockies
Goodman is one of my favorite catcher breakouts even though he may end up getting more time in the outfield than at catcher. However, he brings eligibility at the position going into the season.
He doesn’t have a clear path to regular playing time yet, but the Rockies will definitely have to change that if he can cut down his strikeout rate and keep hitting dingers.
In 70 games last season, Goodman hit only .190 with a 28.6% K%. However, that K% was actually down from 31.2% the previous season and trended down as the season went on. In August and September, he was under 30% after being over 30% in June and July. His batting average also ticked up in September, when he hit .226 with five home runs and a promising .337 wOBA.
In Triple-A last season, Goodman hit a healthy .281 with a .408 wOBA, so the potential is there for a better batting average to go with his power. In the MLB, his 13 homers in 224 plate appearances last year boosted him to a .227 ISO and .274 wOBA overall in his 70 games.
Goodman gets a boost from playing half his games in Coors Field, to be sure, but he’s definitely one of the young potential power impact bats at the plate. If he can earn his way into regular playing time with a big spring, he’ll be a steal late in drafts and the fact that he’s eligible at catcher makes him a great fallback plan if you pass on the bigger names at the position and are searching among the sleepers for one of the biggest catcher breakouts.
Agustin Ramirez, Miami Marlins
Ramirez was one of the key pieces the Marlins got back in the Jazz Chisholm Jr. trade last summer from the Yankees. Early reports out of camp are that he’s in the mix for the starting catching job if he has a strong spring training. Ramirez is more someone to watch than to target at this point, but if he has a big spring or Nick Fortes struggles, he could start the season as the top backstop in Miami.
The 23-year-old Ramirez was ranked as the team’s No. 4 prospect last year by MLB Pipeline and played 126 games in Double-A and Triple-A in the Yankees and Marlins’ farm systems. In those games, he totaled 25 homers, 93 RBI and even 22 stolen bases with a .221 ISO and .378 wOBA. His approach at the plate continued to progress last year, and there’s optimism that he’ll be the team’s primary catcher this season whether he claims the job early or hits his way out of Triple-A.
Fortes didn’t offer much offensively last year, so if Ramirez can show off his potential at the plate this spring, he could win the job. He definitely has the offensive potential to be one of 2025’s top catching breakouts and establish himself as one of the new waves of producers for the Marlins.
