I am not a fan of drafting a catcher anywhere in the top 5 rounds. Drafting catchers makes drafting a pitcher look successful. Here is the list of players drafted as catchers between 1996 and 2000.
So, there were 60 catchers drafted between 1996 and 2000, and just 4 of them have even gotten 1000 plate appearances. That is 6.6%. Personally, I would let someone else draft and develop a catcher and trade for or sign a FA catcher before I would waste a top 5 round pick on one.Code:Name AB H 2B 3B HR BB K PA Notes Brandon Inge 2406 581 116 24 71 195 561 2672 316 of 728 games at catcher Robert Fick 2176 567 110 11 67 216 344 2437 178 of 2176 games as catcher Matt Lecroy 1368 358 67 1 60 123 328 1519 120 of 469 games at catcher Yadier Molina 937 223 47 1 16 62 91 1033 Josh Bard 744 201 44 1 22 68 119 816 Jayson Werth 721 177 39 6 25 87 232 825 Never played a MLB game as a catcher Gerald Laird 474 126 30 2 10 31 107 520 J.D. Closser 447 107 21 3 10 50 93 506 Ryan Doumit 380 90 22 1 12 26 90 435 Jason Grabowski 301 59 8 1 11 33 85 335 Rob Bowen 131 27 5 0 4 17 40 153 Koyie Hill 117 27 7 0 1 13 35 132 Brandon Harper 41 12 3 0 2 4 4 46 J.R. House 19 2 1 0 0 0 4 19 Mike Tonis 6 0 0 0 0 1 0 7 Dane Sardinha 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 Jeff Bailey 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Edgar Cruz 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Camron Hahn 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Johnny Hernandez 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Tony Lawrence 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Giuseppe Chiaramonte 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Brian Jenkins 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jeff Winchester 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jeff Goldbach 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sammy Serrano 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Gabe Johnson 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mike Dean 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ryan Bundy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Kennon Mcarthur 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Raynier Cardona 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ryan Christianson 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Nick Trzesniak 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 James Perez 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Will Hartley 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 DrewMcMillan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jorge Soto 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Russ Jacobson 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jon Kessick 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dominic Woody 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chris Jaile 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Scott Heard 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Robert Stiehl 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dave Parrish 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jared Abruzzo 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Scott Walter 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Omar Falcon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Tommy Arko 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Brandon Wilson 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jason Belcher 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Brian Esposito 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Brad Cresse 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 David Kenna 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lee Evans 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Vidal Candefaria 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Josh Mcaffee 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Brian Loyd 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Tucker Batt 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bobby Brito 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Josh Pugh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0