Ranking the projected 15 starting National League catchers in 2020

Realmuto has won a Silver Slugger each of the last two years and took home his first Gold Glove in 2019. In those two years, he has combined to hit .276 with 46 home runs, 66 doubles, 157 RBIs, and 166 runs.

Contreras was named to his second straight All-Star team last year as he posted career-best numbers of 24 home runs and an .888 OPS. He has a career .821 OPS over four seasons, a number that can be matched or exceeded by very few at his position.

The 59th-ranked prospect according to Baseball Prospectus entering last year, Smith raked at the plate after being called up to the big leagues in late May. In 196 plate appearances, he connected on 15 homers and finished with a .907 OPS. He hit 20 home runs in 224 at bats last year while at AAA.

After minimal action with the Cardinals in the previous three seasons, Kelly took advantage of more playing time with Arizona in 2019. Nearly half of the 25-year-old’s hits (37 of 77) went for extra bases, and he owned an impressive .826 OPS.

Now 37 years old, Molina has had a marvelous career consisting of nine All-Star appearances and nine Gold Gloves. A .270 average and 10 home runs in 2019 shows he’s still capable at the plate and his defense still is among the league’s best albeit not at the same level as it was in his prime.

It was an ugly season throwing out base stealers (threw out just 15 percent) in 2019 for Ramos, but he continued to still provide solid offensive numbers. The 32-year-old hit .288 with 14 home runs and 73 RBIs in his first year with the Mets.

While in all likelihood Narvaez will never be seen as a stellar defensive backstop, he showed what he can do at the plate in extended playing time with the Mariners in 2019. He hit .278 with an .813 OPS last year and had 22 homers.

While much of his career was on the mend from injury while with the Mets, d’Arnaud helped to build back his image after joining the Rays last May. In 327 at bats with Tampa Bay, he hit .263 with 16 homers and 16 doubles. He has always been known more so as a catcher who provides more on offense than defense.

A six-time All-Star, Posey hasn’t nearly been the player who won NL MVP in 2012 during recent years. He is still above-average behind the plate, but an OPS of just .715 in the last two seasons is a far cry from the .853 he had from 2010-17.

The 26-year-old Alfaro received his most playing time of his career last year with the Marlins, and he hit 18 home runs while batting .262. He still has some work to do to become better defensively, and he also has an ugly 40-to-292 walk-to-strikeout ratio over the last two seasons.

Suzuki will likely be in what is close to a timeshare with Yan Gomes. While Gomes is the better defender, Suzuki provides more at the plate as he has hit .272 with 48 home runs over the last three seasons.

After just 72 plate appearances for the Pirates from 2016-18, Stallings showed he could be of immense defensive value for Pittsburgh over the next few seasons. He wasn’t a slouch at the plate either as he hit .262 with six homers in 191 at bats.

Valued more for his defense, Barnhart has seemed to regress a bit in that area after taking home a Gold Glove in 2017. He has never been known as an offensive threat, although he at least has 21 homers over the last two years. MLB.com mentions how he has thought about exclusively hitting from the left side this season.

Much of Wolters’ value comes from behind the plate as he has just seven career home runs and a .651 OPS in 1,123 career plate appearances despite playing his home games at Coors Field. He made just one error last season while throwing out an above-average 34 percent of base stealers.

While he caught just five of 30 base stealers last season, Mejia seems to have the edge over Austin Hedges who had a miserable 2019. Mejia hit fairly well last year producing a .265 batting average and eight homers in 226 at bats.