3. Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants
On the surface placing Buster Posey at third on this list may be head-scratching. After all, he only played 105 games while slugging just .382 with an OPS of .741, both career lows.
The reason Posey comes in so high on this list is two-fold. On one hand, he was hurt for much of last year, dealing with a hip injury that eventually required surgery. Despite the injury, Posey still hit .284 and came in six percent above league average with an OPS+ of 106.
The 31-year-old also kept his peripherals up near his career norms. His walk rate checked in at 10 percent for the third straight year, as did his strikeout rate of 11 percent.
On the second hand, Posey is still just one year removed from playing 140 games, hitting .320 and hitting 34 doubles while posting an OPS of .861 with a 127 OPS+.
At the end of the day, Buster Posey is still one of the best catchers in the game, a player that has been an All-Star in seven of the past eight years. Not to mention the MVP of 2012 and someone who placed top-15 in MVP voting just two years ago.
With a fully healthy season, there is no reason that Posey can’t return to his place among the best catchers in baseball.
2. Yasmani Grandal, Milwaukee Brewers
Outside of his postseason woes the 30-year-old Yasmani Grandal actually had what may have been his best season in 2018. He was busier than in any previous season, playing 140 games and posted the second-highest on-base percentage of his career.
Grandal also hit the second most homers in his career with 24 and logged his second-lowest strikeout rate at 24%. Further working in Grandal’s favor is just a .278 batting average on balls in play indicating some bad luck and potential for his batting average to raise a few more points in 2019.
With his one-year, $18.25 million contract the Brewers could have one of the best offensive catchers in baseball on a reasonable deal. After getting a .245 batting average and .675 OPS from their catchers in 2018 the Brewers will happily take Grandal’s .815 OPS.