Andrew Knizner

Andrew Knizner

29-Year-Old CatcherC
Arizona Diamondbacks AAA
2024 Fantasy Outlook
Knizner had easily his most productive season at the plate in 2023, collecting a .712 OPS with 10 home runs across 241 plate appearances. He even served as the Cardinals' starting catcher for a bit in the first half after the club's bizarre public flogging of Willson Contreras. Even after that, St. Louis balked at paying Knizner a raise in arbitration, choosing to non-tender him instead. The 29-year-old is still looking for work, and even in a best-case scenario he's probably looking at a timeshare situation. The odds that Knizner receives enough playing time and is productive enough to be useful in fantasy leagues are fairly long. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season
From Preseason
#386
ADP
$Signed a one-year, $1.8 million contract with the Rangers in January of 2024. Waived by the Rangers in August of 2024. Claimed off waivers by the Diamondbacks in August of 2024.
Outrighted to Triple-A
CArizona Diamondbacks  AAA
September 18, 2024
The Diamondbacks outrighted Knizner to Triple-A Reno on Tuesday.
ANALYSIS
Knizner cleared waivers after being removed from the 40-man roster over the weekend, but he will remain in the organization for the time being. The veteran catcher is a career .210/.279/.317 hitter over parts of six major-league seasons.
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Batting Stats
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2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
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2023 MLB Game Log
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2022 MLB Game Log
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
11
9
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
1
7
1
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+14%
OPS vs RHP
2024
 
 
+22%
OPS vs RHP
2023
 
 
+9%
OPS vs RHP
2022
 
 
+24%
OPS vs RHP
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022vs Left .558 173 21 7 21 0 .169 .221 .338
Since 2022vs Right .634 454 42 8 44 2 .237 .300 .333
2024vs Left .340 27 3 0 2 0 .154 .148 .192
2024vs Right .416 66 2 1 7 0 .172 .197 .219
2023vs Left .672 81 12 5 11 0 .197 .238 .434
2023vs Right .731 160 18 5 20 2 .264 .313 .419
2022vs Left .507 65 6 2 8 0 .138 .231 .276
2022vs Right .629 228 22 2 17 0 .238 .322 .307
More Splits View More Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2022
Even Split
2024
 
 
+85%
OPS on Road
2023
 
 
+3%
OPS at Home
2022
 
 
+5%
OPS at Home
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022Home .614 278 22 6 32 0 .221 .286 .328
Since 2022Away .612 349 41 9 33 2 .215 .272 .340
2024Home .263 38 1 0 3 0 .132 .132 .132
2024Away .487 55 4 1 6 0 .192 .218 .269
2023Home .721 123 14 4 16 0 .261 .303 .417
2023Away .702 118 16 6 15 2 .220 .271 .431
2022Home .619 117 7 2 13 0 .210 .319 .300
2022Away .590 176 21 2 12 0 .219 .290 .300
More Splits View More Split Stats
Stat Review
How does Andrew Knizner compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.05
 
BB Rate
1.1%
 
K Rate
23.7%
 
BABIP
.206
 
ISO
.044
 
AVG
.167
 
OBP
.183
 
SLG
.211
 
OPS
.394
 
wOBA
.176
 
Exit Velocity
87.3 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
23.2%
 
Barrels/PA
3.2%
 
Expected BA
.233
 
Expected SLG
.332
 
Sprint Speed
22.0 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
43.5%
 
Line Drive %
26.1%
 
Fly Ball %
30.4%
 
Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
Games By Position
Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Andrew Knizner See More
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2023
2021
2020
2019
Knizner played more than expected last season as the Yadier Molina retirement tour was interrupted by a long IL stint for a sore knee. To say Knizner took advantage is a backhanded compliment considering his wRC+ was 79, albeit higher than the prior year's 50 mark. His 21% contact rate isn't the issue; he just doesn't hit the ball with much authority. There was a time the Cardinals hoped Knizner's strong contact skills would support a developing hit tool but signing Willson Contreras suggests they've changed their mind. Knizner is earmarked to back up Willson Contreras, but his hold on the job is tenuous as Knizner is a subpar defender and Jose Herrera looms. If Knizner is on top of your queue, you need a longer queue.
There have been a few catchers of the future in St. Louis throughout Yadier Molina's 30s, and Knizner might be the one in the right place at the right time when the veteran finally leaves town. He made the expanded Opening Day roster as a third catcher but received very few opportunities throughout the season, coming to the plate just 17 times, a sample small enough that analyzing his .250/.235/.313 slash line would be a waste of time. Knizner's minor-league numbers and prospect reports are worth most of the attention if the Cardinals don't bring in anyone to start ahead of him over the winter. He's considered an offense-first backstop, which is what you'd want for fantasy purposes but which means his shaky glove puts a lot of pressure on his bat if he's to remain in the lineup. His 99 wRC+ at the Triple-A level in 2019 hardly suggests he's about to tear up the league, but he could still be a useful option.
Knizner got his first taste of the majors in 2019, appearing in 18 games with the Cardinals. He didn't do much during his time in the big leagues, hitting .226 in 58 plate appearances. It would be rash to rush to judgment based on the limited sample size as Knizner has demonstrated a much more impressive hitting acumen in the minors. He hit a solid .276 in 66 games with Triple-A Memphis in 2019 after batting well above .300 across two levels over the previous two seasons. While Knizner's 24.1 K% in the majors last season took a toll on his batting average, his strikeout rate has never exceeded 13.2% in any minor-league campaign, thus it's fair to expect less whiffs from Knizner as he adjusts to major-league pitching. Knizner has been tapped as the successor to Yadier Molina in St. Louis, and that transition should accelerate in 2020 if Knizner is able to hold down a full-season backup gig.
With Carson Kelly shipped to Arizona in the Paul Goldschmidt trade, Knizner now lines up as Yadier Molina's backup and heir apparent behind the plate in St. Louis. With above-average batting lines at every stop of his three-year professional career, he offers enough offensive value to mostly offset his relatively poor defense. He hit .313/.365/.434 (119 wRC+) in 77 games for Double-A Springfield last year and followed that up with a similar .315/.383/.407 line (114 wRC+) in 17 games with Triple-A Memphis. Despite that short amount of time in Triple-A, Knizner will have a good shot to break camp on the 25-man roster. The 36-year-old Molina has received at least 500 plate appearances in nine of the last 10 years and was an All-Star yet again last season, but he's bound to break down at some point.
More Fantasy News
Removed from 40-man roster
CArizona Diamondbacks  AAA
September 14, 2024
The Diamondbacks designated Knizner for assignment Saturday.
ANALYSIS
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Claimed by Snakes
CArizona Diamondbacks  AAA
August 8, 2024
The Diamondbacks claimed Knizner off waivers from the Rangers on Thursday and optioned him to Triple-A Reno.
ANALYSIS
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Removed from 40-man roster
CTexas Rangers  AAA
August 6, 2024
The Rangers designated Knizner for assignment Tuesday.
ANALYSIS
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Demoted to Triple-A
CTexas Rangers  AAA
July 29, 2024
The Rangers optioned Knizner to Triple-A Round Rock on Monday.
ANALYSIS
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Playing second fiddle to Heim
CTexas Rangers  AAA
July 21, 2024
Knizner is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Orioles.
ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Drawing interest from Miami
CFree Agent  AAA
December 14, 2023
The Marlins have interest in Knizner, Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald report.
ANALYSIS
Miami just acquired Christian Bethancourt via trade but retain interest in Knizner, who would presumably share the catching duties. Knizner was non-tendered by the Cardinals last month after a solid year at the plate which saw him put up a .712 OPS with 10 home runs in 70 games. Whichever club signs Knizner would also have him under team control for 2025.
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