Soto or Martin?

Every other day, for the next two weeks, I will be posting a comparison between the top players at each position. This way, you will be educated enough to make that trade, or reject that one from the guy that's been badgering you. To start, we'll begin with Geovany Soto and Russell Martin.

Last season, Russell Martin took Major League Baseball's fantasy owners by storm. He slowly made his away above the top two from a few years ago, Joe Mauer and Victor Martinez. It's really hard to turn the 25-year-old catcher down that had 87 runs, 19 home runs, and 87 RBIs last season. On top of that, he also had 21 stolen bases and a batting average of .293. This year, Martin is on pace to do a small step worse than last year, but still top tier numbers for a catcher.

You'd think with all this, Martin would be the number one hands down, right? Soto says, "NO!" The Chicago Cubs have powered their way towards the top of the NL Central on the backs of their two rookies, Kosuke Fukudome and Geovany Soto. The 25-year-old Soto is currently playing his fist full year in the majors and is Major League Baseball's best hitting catcher. He currently has 14 runs, 5 home runs, 23 RBIs, and is batting .333. According to that, he is on pace for (roughly) 70 runs, 25 home runs, and 100+ RBIs! Soto also set a Cubs rookie record with 20 RBIs in April. Who would not want that out of their catcher. Even last year, when Soto only played in 18 games, he still put up very impressive numbers (12 runs, 8 RBIs, .389 AVG).

By looking at these numbers, you still might not know which one to trust more. However, let's take a look at another group of numbers. In 2007, in AAA, Soto played in 110 games. In those games, he had 75 runs, 26 home runs, 109 RBIs, and had a batting average of .353. His OPS that season was 1.076! Russell Martin, however, never had the standout minor league numbers as Soto.

An extra note on Russell Martin: Joe Torre has been playing Martin at third base, his original minor league position, including two consecutive starts at third. Keep this in mind, as he could be fantasy eligible at third and catcher next season.

With all this information shown, my vote goes to Geovany Soto. Use the poll to the right to vote on who you think gets the nod between Russell Martin and Geovany Soto. Also, remember to check back again to see our next comparison at first base.