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D1 baseball staff | February 2, 2024

D1Baseball ranks the top 20 catchers in college baseball

LSU Baseball wins the 2023 Men's College World Series | Final Out

Editor's note: The following was first published on . .

When we put together our Preseason All-America teams, we followed one guiding principle: If we were building a team to win the 2024 national title, which players would we choose? We use the same philosophy to construct our Player Rankings — think of them as an extension of our Preseason All-America teams.

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These are NOT professional prospect lists, though they do take pure talent into consideration. Players who proved themselves against top competition in summer ball and look poised for breakout years might rank higher on the list than other players who had gaudier stats from last spring. We considered past performance and offensive statistics, but we also try to keep the numbers in context, because some leagues or ballparks are more offensive than others, and some leagues simply have more talent than others — so all stat lines are not created equal. So, we take an amalgam of past numbers, raw talent, defensive ability (especially at premium positions), makeup and reports of development over the summer and fall. This year, we also made use of more advanced metrics like Defensive Runs Saved and WAR, courtesy of our partners at 6-4-3 Charts.

Finally, remember that there are more than 300 Division I teams, and we’re ranking roughly the top 15 percent at each position. These lists reflect our projections of which players will be the best of the best this spring, but many good players in the remaining 85 percent just didn’t make the cut. We’ll revisit the Player Rankings over the course of the season and make adjustments as players prove themselves on the field.

👀 LOOK AHEAD: D1Baseball projects the 2024 SEC baseball season

With all that said, here’s a look at the top 20 catchers in college baseball heading into the 2024 season. Preseason All-Americans Cole Messina (South Carolina), Jacob Cozart (NC State) and Caden Bodine (Coastal Carolina) lead the way in this loaded position.

Rank Name School AVG/OBP/SLG OPS PA 2B HR RBI BB-K SB
1 Cole Messina South Carolina .306/.427/.612 1.039 285 18 17 65 40-48 8
2 Jacob Cozart NC State .301/.392/.546 0.938 228 14 10 42 24-38 0
3 Caden Bodine Coastal Carolina .366/.454/.606 1.06 259 17 11 47 34-21 1
4 Ethan Anderson Virginia .375/.469/.649 1.118 309 26 15 66 42-32 2
5 Kevin Bazzell Texas Tech .348/.452/.572 1.024 306 24 10 62 45-32 2
6 Malcolm Moore Stanford .311/.386/.564 0.95 298 20 15 63 21-50 3
7 Caleb Lomavita California .316/.367/.612 0.979 226 13 16 43 12-25 9
8 Derek Bender Coastal Carolina .341/.399/.635 1.034 283 13 19 83 16-42 2
9 Walker Janek Sam Houston .300/.375/.546 0.921 261 17 13 65 26-47 10
10 Ryan Campos Arizona State .381/.497/.588 1.085 199 7 8 24 35-17 4
11 Alex Stone Duke .315/.379/.579 0.958 282 16 17 62 17-43 0
12 Karson Bowen TCU .350/.420/.502 0.922 251 15 6 46 25-49 9
13 Devin Burkes Kentucky .291/.423/.502 0.925 283 18 9 53 38-53 9
14 Ike Irish Auburn .357/.428/.539 0.967 278 24 6 50 28-46 3
15 Ryan Stafford Cal Poly .313/.393/.500 0.893 269 20 7 44 22-38 4
16 Cannon Peebles Tennessee .352/.456/.697 1.153 172 11 12 50 27-29 0
17 Grant Jay Dallas Baptist .317/.445/.751 1.196 238 17 21 62 36-72 7
18 Brock Tibbitts Indiana .357/.447/.585 1.032 293 17 10 68 33-43 1
19 Lucas Steele Samford .315/.404/.635 1.039 245 15 16 51 27-51 0
20 Derek Berg Army .312/.392/.558 0.95 270 15 12 44 27-59 12

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