We will be going through position-by-position reviewing our 2011 fantasy baseball rankings and projections, looking at the breakouts and busts that shaped the past season while analyzing what we can take out of this going forward.

Catcher proved to be relatively easy to project, as 26 of the 30 players we ranked in the preseason finished in the top 30 according to ESPN’s player rater. Of the four catchers who came from outside the top 30 to finish in it, only Wilson Ramos was any kind of difference-maker.

Below is the comparison, with our projection on the first line and the player’s actual stats on the second line.

We break down the projections as being right on, slightly over/under, moderately over/under and way over/under. Then we group the results into busts (moderately/way under), breakouts (moderately/way over) and what we expected (right on, slightly over/under).

Breakouts

Alex Avila, Mike Napoli, Yadier Molina and Ramos.

Tigers catcher Alex Avila's solid walk rate helped him break out in 2011

Avila had some supporters as a breakout candidate this year, but we weren’t on the bandwagon because he hadn’t been an elite prospect, was still a little green at age 24 and was coming off a very disappointing 2010 season (.228-28-7-31-2). The telltale signs we’ll look out for next time was his solid walk rate (10.8% in ’10), excellent debut the previous season (five homers in 72 PA in ’09) and that a breakout can happen at age 24, even at the demanding catcher position.

With Napoli, we were excited about the move to Rangers Ballpark, but were worried about his playing time with Michael Young at DH, Mitch Moreland and first base and Yorvit Torrealba at catcher. It turned out that Napoli took off when ABs opened up with the July hamstring injury to Beltre. After a typical Napoli first half (.232-28-12-33-1), he went nuts after the All-Star break (.383-44-18-42-3). Nobody could have seen a bulky catcher who hit .238 the year before and had a career-high of .273 possibly turning in a .320 campaign. Amazingly, Napoli actually had better numbers on the road (.332 with 17 homers) then at home (.307, 13 HRs). This shows that it can pay off big to take a player being downgraded due to playing-time questions, because if they are resolved, there are potential big rewards to be had.

Molina had shown an ability to hit for average and rack up his counting stats by catching so many games, but he enjoyed a power surge in his age-28 season that propelled him up the charts. Molina had average 6.5 homers over his past six years with a career-high of eight coming in his first full season. By cranking it up to 14 homers and turning in a career-high .305 average, Molina ranked as the No. 5 catcher. If he can keep up the power, Molina should remain a top-10 catcher next year even if his average sags a bit.

Ramos had playing-time concerns because of the presence of Ivan Rodriguez and Jesus Flores. Ramos had struggled in Triple-A for the Twins (.241, 5 HRs in 295 PA) before being traded to the Nationals. The telltale signs to look out for next time was that he had flourished after the change of scenery (.316, 3 HRs in 82 PA at Triple-A and a .404 SLG in 54 PA with the Nationals), he was a premier prospect and that a breakout is possible even at age 23.

Busts

Joe Mauer, Buster Posey, Geovany Soto, Jorge Posada, Jesus Montero and John Jaso.

Buster Posey's season was derailed by an injury on a collision at the plate.

Right away we can chalk up two of these to injuries – Mauer and Posey. Mauer was coming back from off-season surgery on his knee and after sitting out over a month with leg weakness, he was not himself. Posey was off to a solid start before being lost for the season on a bone-crunching collision at home plate.

Montero was a casualty to a lack of playing time, which was the big question with him going in. Once he finally got a chance late in the season, Montero showed what he can do by hitting .328 with power. We won’t know if he’ll catch enough games to qualify as anything but a DH next year, but he’ll be a sought-after bat nonetheless.

We had thought the wheels would come off Posada a year earlier due to age, but it caught up to him in his age-39 season. His final numbers wound up relatively close to what he finished with in ’10 due to a strong finish, but there was none of the expected boost from the rest provided from moving out from behind the plate to be a DH. Never again will we expect much from a 39-year-old catcher.

Jaso was a pleasant surprise in 2010 when he debuted with a .372 OBP that saw him batting leadoff in the playoffs. Those on-base skills dried up this season with a paltry .298 mark that led to a drop in playing time. It’s not like we were expecting all that much from Jaso in the first place, but he went from being someone we thought would be a starter in a two-catcher league to a big detriment if you stuck with him at all.