Fantasy Baseball Sleeper Pick: Francisco Cervelli
While Buster Posey, Salvador Perez, and Yadier Molina might dominate the conversation when you are focusing on catchers, there are several others who are nice picks that are just as good as the three mentioned above. One of those can be found on the Pittsburgh Pirates in Francisco Cervelli.
The 30-year old catcher is going on his third year with the Pirates organization and coming off a season where Cervelli missed some time due to a broken hamate bone in his left hand. Despite dealing with a hand injury, Cervelli still had a great season offensively last year.
In 326 at bats, he hit: .264/.377/.322 with 86 hits, 14 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run, 33 RBI, 56 walks, and 72 strikeouts. In addition, Cervelli locked down 6 stolen bases and had a .699 OPS. That is not that bad of a batting line considering that Cervelli is a catcher.
If you look back on Cervelli's entire MLB career with the New York Yankees from 2008 to 2014 and the Pirates in 2015 and 2016, he has a cumulative batting line of: .280/.361/.374 in 1,465 at bats. Over that span, he recorded 410 hits, 64 doubles, 10 triples, 18 home runs, 168 RBI, 166 walks, and 301 strikeouts.
Heading into 2017, the entire Pittsburgh Pirates front office and coaching staff are hoping that Cervelli remains healthy the entire season enough to contribute on a level that allows them to make a deep playoff push. Not only is Cervelli one of the Pirates franchise players along with Andrew McCutchen, he signed a three-year, $31 million dollar extension with the team last season.
Furthermore, besides being a household name for the team until 2019, Cervelli is also referred to as a very friendly guy in the clubhouse and someone who can adequately lead a pitching staff. In addition, he has a above-average pitch framing abilities and does a great job of calling the game.
In the end, if you're still in the market for a catcher and might be looking at someone who is an under-the-radar selection, then Cervelli might be your guy. After all, he is a top notch catcher that often goes unnoticed and can benefit your team, especially if your in a keeper league, through at least 2019 if not beyond.
