Sean Murphy and Carson Kelly: Two Viable Catchers to Pick Up Right Now
Sean Murphy has recently come back from injury and has been great in his first couple of games back. Also, Carson Kelly has come in and been the best fantasy catcher in baseball through the first 16 games of the season. In this article, we are going to be going through why you should pick up both of them to be your fantasy baseball catcher.
Starting off with Sean Murphy, in six games played so far, Murphy has posted a .273/.385/.818 statline with a 1.203 OPS this season. As of right now, he would be first in slugging percentage and first in OPS this season, but he has only played six games. Still, Murphy's dominance shouldn't be overlooked, as he has been playing as one of the best catchers in baseball since he came back from injury. Murphy is still only rostered in 27.1% of fantasy leagues, so there's still a high chance he isn't rostered by the time you're reading this article.
Carson Kelly has been really good through sixteen games so far this season. He has had a ton of huge performances that have been pulling his weight for his averages, and he is having them about every other game he plays. The reason we say every other game he plays and not just every other game is because the Cubs have him rotating the catcher position right now with Miguel Amaya, another quality catcher for the Cubs. Also, he has missed the last two games after taking a pitch right to the hand on Sunday's game against the Dodgers. The good news is that he is projected back into the lineup today, which means it is nothing serious. Still after all this, he is still the top rated catcher in fantasy baseball this season, which shows just how dominant he has been. His best performance came on March 31st against the A's, where he became the first Cubs player to hit for the cycle in 31 years.
Overall, both Carson Kelly and Sean Murphy are going to be very good catchers this season, and both in their own way. Murphy is going to perform well through his power and hitting home runs, while Kelly is kind of a jack-of-all-trades, in which he can really hit anything. Some games he will hit two home runs, and some games he will get walked three times. If I had to pick which one to pick up, I would choose Carson Kelly right now because of his big time performances. But, ultimately it doesn't really matter that much as they are both viable options. Sean Murphy is rostered in 27% of leagues, and Kelly is rostered in about 30%, so they should both be available in your league.