Cubs have a lot of ground to make up in NL Central catchers rankings heading into '25

2. Tyler Stephenson - Reds

After Contreras, it gets pretty muddled when trying to rank the catchers in the Central heading into 2025. There's a host of former top prospects and guys that have at least one intriguing dimension to their game.

The Reds' Stephenson appeared on a couple of top 100 prospect lists but never was a consensus elite prospect. However, he's figured out a way to provide a good amount of value at the dish since taking over the starter role in the Queen City; his slugging and on-base skills provide most of it. His 2024 .782 OPS sneakily ranked third among catchers in MLB. Stephenson was a legitimately good player last year at a position fraught with mediocrity.

That being said, there are significant concerns with his defense and there are some advanced metrics that show his average (and OBP) is inflated by some luck against breaking balls (.252 batting average vs a .205 expected). To me, Stephenson seems like a solid everyday catcher that probably has reached his ceiling. I doubt he will be number two on this list by midseason, but deserves the credit for back-to-back seasons of quality production.

3. Joey Bart - Pirates

Was 2024 real? Joey Bart was one of the more renowned prospects in recent memory: he attracted tons of attention because of both the incredible toolset and serving as heir apparent to Boster Posey. Bart struggled in parts of three seasons with the Giants and was dumped for an eighth-round pitcher to the Pirates last year right after Opening Day. I think everyone, including Pittsburgh's front office, was shocked at his output at the plate following the issues while on the Bay. The former #2 overall pick only played in 80 games but rung up a .799 OPS while posting a career-high in homers.

Again, there are some concerns here with advanced stats portending a decrease in batted ball outcomes. Combined with the fact that he's horrid defensively and the Pirates have some other former top prospect options (Henry Davis and Endy Rodriguez), I lean toward forecasting some significant regression here and him not being in this slot by midseason. But, similarly to Stephenson, he put up an impressive (albeit abbreviated) 2024 and deserves a ranking above the bottom two options.