Latest on the Indians Starting Catcher

On Saturday, the Cleveland Indians provided an update regarding catcher Roberto Perez. Perez was placed on the Injured List at the end of July with a right shoulder strain. The originally targeted date by Perez himself was this past Friday. However, that was always viewed as a hopeful date by the team instead of a realistic target.

Saturday his anticipated return became clearer. Mandy Bell of MLB.com provided the update via Twitter.

Terry Francona said they believe Roberto Perez will return to the team on Tuesday.

— Mandy Bell (@MandyBell02) August 15, 2020

Getting Perez back on the big league team is significant. Perez is a tremendous defender behind the plate and does have the offense to keep the bottom of the Indians lineup productive.

Furthermore, at 32 years old Perez is a valuable veteran presence in the clubhouse. While the Indians have other veterans like Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco, Perez is another guy to add to that list.

Roberto Perez Value Behind the Dish

As stated here, Perez led all qualified MLB catchers in Defensive Runs Saved (30) last year. Currently, the Indians have a Defensive Runs Saved value of zero with Sandy Leon behind the plate. From that aspect alone, getting Perez back on the big league roster is going to be a huge boost.

In addition, it’s a boost since the Indians are built on the foundation of a strong starting rotation. The starting rotation is really what has carried the team this season. Perez was a major part of that success during the first week of the season before being sidelined. It’s an extremely small sample size, but consider the splits shown below.

From July 24th (when the season started for the Indians) to July 28th (the day before Perez went to the IL), the Indians starting rotation posted a 2.32 ERA. That was good enough for second in the American League and fourth best overall in baseball. In contrast, since July 29th to the conclusion of Saturday (August 15th), the starting rotation has posted a 2.65 ERA over 91 2/3 innings of work. That puts them second in the AL and in baseball overall.

Although it’s not a drastic difference, having Perez behind the dish could make the starting rotation’s success even better. Only a few teams in baseball can say they have defense at the level that Perez provided last season. One team in particular is the Philadelphia Phillies with J.T. Realmuto. Only time will tell if Perez is able to replicate those stellar numbers from last year. However, odds are that he does and provides the Indians a significant boost once activated from the IL.

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