This is a companion piece to our 2023 Dynasty League Rankings. The opinions below are my own and do not reflect the TDG consensus. This year when the sign ups were first available for all the Gurus to pick which piece they wanted to do for these 2023 rankings. This particular piece was my first overall pick this year. Why is that? Well, short answer. To feed my ego. So before I get to who it is that I will target at catcher for 2023. Please, humor me for a moment as I will give you a synopsis of why my ego deserves your recognition and praise. 

ALEJANDRO KIRK, TORONTO BLUE JAYS (AGE 24, PREVIOUS RANK 9th)

HARRY FORD, SEATTLE MARINERS (AGE: 19, PREVIOUS RANK 25th)

Before the start of the 2022 season, I had four words to share with you. GO GET ALEJANDRO KIRK! I shouted from the mountain tops, sent smoke signals, wrote about it on TDG, sent out carrier pigeons, told my mom, your mom, and everyone in between. I dubbed him La Bola De Boliche (The Bowling Ball) so it would stick in your simple little minds during your draft. All he does is hit strikes! Actually, I don’t remember if I came up with that tagline or my guy Phil Barrington (@barrington_phil) did. Check the records. I proclaimed this in the Triple Play piece on the Blue Jays back in March of last year. Check out the link below if you don’t believe me. Don’t worry I’ll wait. 

https://thedynastyguru.com/2022/03/24/tdgs-triple-play-toronto-blue-jays-3/

I can’t believe you didn’t believe me and looked at that survey. Just kidding. I wouldn’t trust me either. But, now that you know that I’m not full of BS like I usually am. I feel I need to spend just a little bit of time in this piece about the man who made this happen. No, not Alejandro Kirk! ME!

From simple beginnings in the city of Chicago. As a young lad, I knew I had a gift. And I knew if I didn’t share this gift. It would cause a void in the universe that might never, ever be filled. That gift was fantasy baseball knowledge. Without me. There would be no one for you to follow. You would have been bewildered last year on what to do with your team. You simply need a Guru. And by the luck of Turk Wendell. You found ME. 

Your hero. I could say I never thought in my wildest dreams I’d be here today to tell you just how great I am. But, I’d be lying. I knew it would happen. And even though twenty other so-called fantasy baseball experts thought the same about Alejandro Kirk’s breakout. It is I that deserve your praise. Why…??? 

I’m the king of the world!!

So now that I got that out of the way. I am sure you are longing for another nugget of knowledge. Especially those of you who didn’t listen to me. A gem just like last year to help you. Don’t worry. I got you!

WHAT THE HELL IS A GALADRIEL?

Last year in the catcher rankings. The Guru of all Gurus Taylor Case (@TCasesloaded) was the one who wrote about my guy. Taylor wrote, 

“With most estimates for his MLB ETA set for 2024 or beyond, he’s still a long way off from contributing to any dynasty teams. And as is the case with most young catching prospects, I find I don’t have the patience to wait out their contributions. Will he be a Galadriel though, hidden away in a forest of deep dynasty leagues, a powerful force hardly anyone knows exists until the time is nigh?”

Only time will tell. (Taylor Case)

My first thought was who the hell is Galadriel? So after I spent ten minutes searching for Galadriel on Fangraphs and Baseball Reference, I checked on Google and still don’t really know what a Galadriel is except she is the mightiest elf? If that is the case. Taylor is half right by proclaiming that, “Only time will tell”.

This coming season the catcher you will want to target is the Mariners 5’-10″ Harry Ford from North Cobb County High School.  (AKA The Big Bossman’s old stomping ground)  Yes, I know it isn’t a huge stretch to say a kid who was drafted 12th overall a year ago is going to be someone you’d want on your team. And in all likelihood, he is already rostered in your league. But, if that is the case. It is still early enough to trade for him and not have to give up a ridiculous amount to do so. Even though he is a top-100 prospect. Many in the fantasy world, including our consensus rankings from our site have him ranked 23rd below fellow prospects Logan O’Hoppe, Endy Rodriguez, Henry Davis, and Diego Cartaya. I personally have Ford ranked 11th. That is ahead of all of them except O’Hoppe because he will be in the majors this year and put up some insane numbers last season. 

I figure the other Gurus ranked him lower because of his age and he hasn’t played past A ball. But, after watching tape on him and the reports at the Mariners training facilities, I feel great about Ford, but also like a bitter old man and the Silky Johnson of The Dynasty Guru. I do look for any reason to hate on anyone, even myself. Sorry. Sometimes I forget I’m old and that most of you might not be familiar with some of my pop culture references. Silky Johnson is a character played in the skit “The Player Haters Ball” on the Chappelle Show. Wait. Let me see when that was televised.  March 19th, 2003? Wait, that was almost twenty years ago? Wait. Wait. Ford is only 19 years old. Hold on. Yeah, he was born on February 21st, 2003. So this kid was not even a month old when that aired?!? Wait. Wait. Wait… How old was I in 2003? That was the Bartman year. Damn! That was twenty years ago too? Sorry I need a moment. Wow. I need to seriously reflect on some life choices after this revelation. 

Ok. Calm down Ryan. Don’t forget you are a hero to these people.  

NUTTY INFO

Now where was I? Oh yeah. I need to hate on someone. That always makes me feel better even when it is directed to people I actually like. So this hate is directed towards my fellow Gurus and Alejandro Kirk advocates Phil (@barrington_phil) and Colin Coulahan (@cjc07) who both know more about baseball than I will ever know. But, neither of them ranking Ford is outrageous and inexcusable. “I hate you, I hate you. I don’t even know you and I hate your guts.”  

In 2022, Ford spent the entire season in A Ball and slashed .274/.425/.438 with 11 home runs and a .408 wOBA for the Modesto Nuts. And yes, that is their team name. And I don’t get why they have a walnut and an almond as their logo. Shouldn’t it be a peanut and walnut since they both have the word nut in it? I guess Al the Almond sounds better than Pea the Peanut?  

What jumped out at me when I watched the tape of Ford’s at bats is super quick hands and explosiveness. His hitting mechanics are quite interesting because he has a quiet closed stance, but has a lot of noteworthy moving parts for a very strong mechanical swing. He has a slight loop at times when he loads his swing in order to bring his hands back to stay in the zone longer when he sees certain pitches. He makes it a point to hit to the opposite field, which is clearly a sign of an advanced approach at the plate. That approach was already reflected last season with 31% of his batted balls hit in the opposite direction and 21.7% to center. Another noticeable movement is the amount of torque he puts on his back elbow when he loads “to park” for his launch. It probably can put a dent in a piece of drywall. As for his lower body, it looks like he adjusted his leg lift from two years ago. It isn’t as prevalent now and now uses a toe tap for his launch in which his front foot looks to go on his tippy toes before he hits a small stride for his impact position. His follow-through is the most eye-catching to me. His back leg bends at a 90 degree angle and his front foot almost always ends up fully on its left side when he makes any contact. I tried doing that a couple of times and my legs almost gave out on me after the second time. Oh to be 19 or 29 or even 39 again. Stay strong hero!

Now there are plenty of catchers in the majors and coming up in the minors that have great hitting and power tools. What you’ll see in every scouting report about Ford you will see the word “athlete” throughout it. Mainly why it is the 60 speed grade he possesses. Yes, that is the same grade as Elly De La Cruz, Gunnar Henderson, and Jordan Lawlar. He clocked a 6.42 second time in the 60-yard dash before the draft. You can’t even get off of my sofa in 6.42 seconds. He already showed last season that elite speed with 23 stolen bases in 104 games. Thus, you’d think there would be a temptation to move him to the outfield a la Dalton Varsho. It was even announced when he got drafted that he was a catcher and outfielder. But, during his introductory interview with the media GM Justin Hollander said they drafted Ford to be a catcher. In addition, in a follow-up interview with the YouTube show Mariners Ford repeated this and said he only wants to play a catcher. Of course, anything can change. Currently, Ford is graded below average defensively but, scouts have said he is a very good receiver and possesses a 60-grade arm. I think he will just need the experience to become an overall great fielder at that position. 

Ford is must-add and a must-target. You can see for yourself. He will be playing for Great Britain in the upcoming World Baseball Classic and after that in spring training as a non-roster invitee for the Mariners. Thus, you can see for yourself. Hopefully, by that time it won’t be too late.

Because the time is nigh.