Kansas City Royals Countdown: Top Five Catchers

Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

The Kansas City Royals have just finished their 45 year in grand style, making the World Series for the third time in franchise history. After 29 years, the Royals made it back to the postseason, reinvigorating a fanbase and a city. A new era may be about to dawn, and the Royals appear primed to retake their place among baseball’s best.

With that 45th anniversary of the Royals inaugural season behind us, it seems like a good time to take a look back over the top players at each position in the Royals past. Today, we begin at catcher, and will continue our trip around the diamond each week, going over the top players at each position.

For all of the great players the Kansas City Royals have had in their vibrant history, catcher has historically been a weaker position. Some of the players on this list may not necessarily be on the top five lists for other teams, but that does not diminish what they accomplished for the Royals during their tenure in Kansas City.

To compile this list, the Fangraphs list of career Wins Above Replacement was used as a guideline. However, a bit of personal judgment went into this as well, particularly as both Fran Healy and John Wathan were tied for fifth on the list with a career mark of 5.5 WAR with the Royals. One of the two needed to be cut.

Here is the list of the top five catchers in Kansas City Royals history. Let us know if there is someone you feel should be on the list, or if you feel someone should be ranked higher!

Next: A true Royals lifer