The catching situation in fantasy baseball is a strange one. You can try and get a catcher early by going after Buster Posey or Yadier Molina. You could also wait till the middle rounds to draft a guy like Brian McCann. Or you could wait until the later rounds and pick up a guy that can just get you by. This snippet will go over who you should draft of the two men below.

First up we have Wilson Ramos. Ramos is a 26 year-old righty and the everyday catcher for the Washington Nationals. He put up a .272 batting average with 16 home runs and 59 RBIs last season. He doesn’t strike out very much but he also doesn’t walk much. Basically this guy is going to put the bat to ball but isn’t always finding a hole. The fact that Ramos is playing for the Nationals should help his numbers out even more. He is projected to be hitting eighth in this potent Washington lineup.

Your other late round option is Mr. Jason Castro. He is a 26 year-old lefty who also starts everyday for the Houston Astros. Castro has numbers very similar to those of Ramos. In 2013 he batted .276 with 18 home runs and 56 RBIs. The main difference between these two is that Castro strikes out a lot but also walks more. Last year he struck out 130 times in 435 plate appearances. The strikeouts might be glaring but he is also getting on-base more than Ramos at an OBP of .350, opposed to Ramos’s .307.

Ok, now that you have the numbers we can get into who you should have on your squad at the end of the day. At first look you would assume that Castro is being drafted earlier than Ramos because his stats are slightly better. It turns out that the exact opposite is true. Ramos is being drafted in roughly the 18 to 20th rounds while Castro is either being drafted in the last round or in some cases not drafted at all. The main reason for this has a lot to do with the fact that Ramos is playing for a team that can go out and put up great offensive numbers. The Astros on the other hand don’t have that luxury.

If you are a smart fantasy player than the answer should be very obvious. If you want Ramos you are going to have to draft him before the 20th round. But why would you reach for the numbers that Ramos puts up when you could wait until the last round of the draft and take the same numbers? If that isn’t enough for you than maybe the fact that Castro will be batting in the three spot will sway your opinion.

At the end of the day you should take the 25th rounder who is batting third in his respective teams lineup over the earlier round catcher who is batting eighth. Simplify your draft, while minimizing risks will prove to be a lot better for your team than the guy who says, “look at this bold pick” after every single round.