Jake Rogers completely snubbed out of top MLB top catchers list

Jake Rogers proved his worth last season for the Detroit Tigers. He hit 21 home runs with a .224 ISO and a 2.2 fWAR, 11th among all MLB catchers. In all likelihood, he will be the Detroit Tigers starting catcher in 2024, and rightfully so.

However, he doesn't get the respect he should nationally. Nowhere is this more evident that a recent rankings of the top catchers in baseball by MLB Nerds.

They recently released their list of top 20 catchers in the league going into 2024, and Rogers is nowhere to be found. What's more insulting is who is on the list instead. You're going to want to see this for yourself.

Oh boy, where do we begin? Jake Rogers isn't on here, but Gary Sanchez, who's a journeyman at this point, is? Austin Wells, who has 75 big league plate appearances? Tyler Stephenson, who had -0.7 fWAR last season? Goodness gracious.

We can keep going. Christian Vazquez had a 65 wRC+ last year. Patrick Bailey being on the list is fine, since he was an elite defensive catcher and framer last season. But in the top 10? He has to put up better than a 78 wRC+ in order to deserve that.

There are at least four catchers on this list that were objectively worse than Jake Rogers last year in multiple categories. Again, Rogers was 11th in fWAR among catchers in 2023, and that would have been higher had he gotten more playing time at the beginning of the season.

People will respond with his high strikeout rate and declining walk rate as the season went on, which led to his below average 97 wRC+. I would counter with his ability to hit the ball hard consistently, and his surprisingly low chase rate. He's also one of the best in the league at blocking. These stats are all readily available on Baseball Savant.

This list is terrible, but it's par for the course for this account. They love to do this kind of stuff for engagement. Well, mission accomplished on that front.

Jake Rogers should be ranked somwhere in the 11-15 range. He's a very good catcher. Not elite. Not great, even. But he's very good. And that's more than you can say for several catchers on this list.