Jonathan Lucroy

Lucroy is firmly in the twilight of his career as 2016 looks further in the rearview mirror than it should be. He remains a high contact hitter with a willingness to accept walks, but the quality of his contact is mostly below average with absolutely no signs of rebounding to the level that helped drive his 2016 production. The free-agent catcher has a good reputation for his work behind the dish, but his 2019 pop times and pitch framing were both bottom 50th percentile on the leader boards. Lucroy is decidedly a single-league format catcher if you play in a two-catcher league. Otherwise, you can safely ignore his presence on draft day. If you subscribe to "once you display a skill, you own it," understand that it will take a miracle for the 2016 skills to show up again. The three-year average stats paint a decidedly ugly picture for his 2020 potential.

Lucroy is no longer a force at the dish and his once elite framing skills have fallen off in recent seasons. However, due to the state of the catcher inventory, he's still relevant in two-catcher leagues. He signed a one-year, $3.35 million deal with the Angels, and should enter spring training as the favorite to break camp as the primary backstop, ahead of Kevan Smith. A high contact rate drives a batting average that should settle around the MLB average though a low average exit velocity caps it there with limited power. Still, if he is playing four days a week while hitting around .250, he will compile enough runs and RBI to be useful in those deeper formats. He's morphed into the prototypical "won't hurt you" backstop with little chance of more. If your power is adequate elsewhere, Lucroy makes some sense. His lack of walks will be a detriment in points and on-base formats.

Among players taken in the top 60 on average last spring who stayed mostly healthy all year, Lucroy was the biggest bust. He posted just a .635 OPS during his time with Texas in 2017, down more than 200 points from his 2016 mark, and was ultimately dealt to Colorado at the trade deadline. Lucroy's numbers improved after he joined the Rockies (.310/.429/.437), although he managed just two homers in his 46 games after the move. Indeed the dip in power was the big story of his season on the whole, as Lucroy completely gave up power in the name of contact (10.6 percent strikeout rate), much to the detriment of his fantasy value. The catcher position is almost void of impact talent and Lucroy will remain relevant given his plate skills, but the fluctuation in his home-run totals combined with the rigors and inherent risks of the catcher position leave him with a wide range of outcomes. Bet on a batting-average rebound -- that's about as far as we'll go.

The Brewers sold Lucroy at the trade deadline, and he responded with a brilliant stint for the Rangers. He almost matched his homer total in 338 Milwaukee at-bats (13) during his 152 with Texas (11), and Lucroy quickly erased any doubts following his injury-marred 2015 campaign. The Rangers picked up his option basically hours after the 2016 World Series ended, which will keep him in one of the best run-producing spots of any catcher. The biggest fantasy question, though, is whether the 30-year-old will come close to repeating his career high in home runs. At Rangers Ballpark, he smacked six of them - one for every 12.5 at-bats there. Staying in Arlington bolsters his potential to do that again, to go along with his elite batting average profile (career .284 clip, 85.8 contact percentage). In most draft rooms, Gary Sanchez and Buster Posey will wind up as slightly more expensive options, but Lucroy could be acquired for less and easily outperform them, yielding the best profit of the trio.

Last season was a down year from day one for Lucroy, who suffered a toe injury on a foul tip in April that cost him 38 games and later missed significant time due to a concussion. His full-season numbers look mediocre at .264/.326/.391, but after returning from the toe injury on June 1, Lucroy wasn't far off from the All-Star player he was in 2014. In his final 364 plate appearances, Lucroy hit .282/.342/.420 with 29 extra-base hits, including seven home runs. He's still a rock-solid contact hitter with good power for the catcher position, even if the shine of 2014 has dimmed a bit. Lucroy owned a .297/.359/.472 line over the previous three seasons before his brief dip in early 2015. At 30 years old, Lucroy should still have a couple of peak years left in him, and he's a good bet to return to form in 2016.

Lucroy languished in anonymity for a few years, but he became a household name last season after smashing a league-best 53 doubles and finishing fourth in NL MVP voting. His home run and RBI numbers dipped a bit, but he also hit .300 and finished with the most at-bats among all catchers by playing at first base as well, something he figures to do again in 2015. Lucroy isn’t hiding any longer -- he will be among the first catchers taken in fantasy drafts this spring, and rightfully so.

Though his name doesn’t often come up when discussing the top hitting catchers in the league, Lucroy finished the 2013 season with the ninth best OPS among catchers who saw at least 400 plate appearances, and more impressively, the most RBI. Each of Lucroy’s slash numbers dipped from the previous season, but he played in a career-best 147 games and showed good power with 49 extra-base hits overall. Lucroy figures to bat in the middle third of the Brewers’ order, and his power production could be a bargain for fantasy owners in the mid-to-later rounds.

Lucroy made a big jump at the plate lat season, essentially matching his production from the season before despite playing in 40 fewer games. Lucroy does not take many walks, but he improved both his eye at the plate and his power, striking out just 44 times in 316 at-bats and slugging .513, the third highest rate for any catcher that appeared in 75 games. A full season from Lucroy in 2013 will give him a chance to end the year as a top-10 fantasy catcher.

Lucroy was respectable during his first full season in the majors, hitting .265/.313/.391, though he fell off a bit in the second half of the season. He should start 130-plus games again in 2012 and has the potential to be a bit above average, particularly if he's able recoup the sharp decline in his contact rate (84 percent in 2010 to 77 last season).

Lucroy started 2010 in Double-A Huntsville was pushed to the majors in May after Gregg Zaun went down with a season ending injury. He hit .253/.300/.329 in 75 games for Milwaukee with four home runs. It's doubtful that he'll ever hit for much power, but he's shown good plate discipline in the minors and could approach a .300 batting average during his peak seasons. He'll return as Milwaukee's starting catcher in 2011.

Lucroy saw his prospect status rise in 2009 despite putting up modest numbers at Double-A Huntsville where he hit .264/.377/.409. He saved his season by hitting .337/.426/.565 in 92 August at-bats and then following that up with an impressive Arizona Fall League. The Brewers will give him the chance to make the team as their starting catcher during spring training, which should keep him on every fantasy owner's radar. While he's no frontrunner for the Rookie of the Year award, he could be better than a number of other catchers if he gets regular playing time.

Lucroy is starting to get noticed after hitting .292/.364/.479 for High-A Brevard County after spending the first half of the season at Low-A West Virginia. He has shown good plate discipline and hit 20 home runs between both levels to become one of the Brewers' better prospects. The Brewers may start him at Double-A Huntsville in 2009 where he'll be one level behind another highly touted catcher in Angel Salome.