Pirates A to Z: Michael Perez should serve as a defensive upgrade to backup catchers

During the offseason, the Tribune-Review will offer Pirates A to Z, an alphabetical player-by-player look at the 40-man roster, from outfielder Anthony Alford to pitcher Nik Turley.

Michael Perez

Position: Catcher

Bats/Throws: Left/right

Age: 28

Height: 5-foot-10

Weight: 195 pounds

2020 MLB statistics: Batted .167/.237/.238 with three doubles, one home run and 13 RBIs in 38 games.

Contract: Not yet eligible for arbitration.

Acquired: Claimed off waivers from Tampa Bay on Oct. 30.

This past season: The Pirates have a history of prominent Puerto Rican players, one that started with Roberto Clemente and continued with John Candelaria, Jose Lind and Orlando Merced.

When the Pirates celebrated Roberto Clemente Day in September, however, they did so without a Puerto Rican player on their major-league roster as reliever Yacksel Rios was on the injured list.

Claiming Perez off waivers from the AL champion Tampa Bay Rays resolves that void, though it was hardly the Pirates’ motivation. They saw an opportunity to add a backup catcher who is strong defensively.

That became a problem last season when Luke Maile was lost for the season after being hit in the hand by a pitch, which required surgery on his right index finger. That forced the Pirates to turn to John Ryan Murphy, who batted .172 with two doubles and two RBIs in 25 games.

When the Pirates claimed Perez, they outrighted both Maile and Murphy. Both elected free agency, leaving the Pirates perilously thin at the position both in the majors and the minors.

“It’s really just continuing to try and add depth to that position,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said. “He’s a left-handed hitter and a good defender. That’s a nice complement to Stallings, potentially. He’s handled the job well defensively at the major league level.”

Whether Perez can tap into his power is another story. The Rays traded for him in July 2018, acquiring Perez from Arizona when Wilson Ramos was injured and elevating him to the majors on the same day. But Perez missed a month in 2019 with a strained right oblique, and was stuck in Triple-A as Travis d’Arnaud hit .262 with 16 homers and 67 RBIs.

Rays manager Kevin Cash described Perez last season as “a left-handed bat that can really throw, really catch and really has good bat-to-ball skills.” Perez was productive at Triple-A, batting .245 with 13 homers and 42 RBIs in 54 games for the Durham Bulls. In more than 2,100 at-bats in the minors, Perez batted .247 with 61 homers.

That’s no Crash Davis, but the Pirates hope his power potential can play at PNC Park the way it did in the postseason. Perez batted .286 in eight playoff games, hitting a two-run homer in Game 3 of the AL divisional series against the New York Yankees.

Michael Perez - Tampa Bay Rays(Playoffs)(1) 2-run. pic.twitter.com/TC6hzz1uSK

— MLB HR Tracker (@hr_mlb) October 8, 2020

“He’s got some offensive track record at Class AAA,” Cherington said. “The offense hasn’t come around entirely at the major league level. But there are some things about his offensive game that give us hope that that could improve. All the reports we got on the person and the character are really good. So this early in the offseason it was just an opportunity to hopefully make that position a little stronger. We’ll stay open on that. We know long term organizationally that’s an area that we want to make deeper and better.”

The future: Perez promises to be a defensive upgrade over Murphy and a solid backup to Jacob Stallings, a Gold Glove finalist who was the team MVP last season.

Welcome to Michael Perez’s defensive clinic pic.twitter.com/mREceDQTau

— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) August 28, 2020

With the Rays, Perez had a career-best 2.5 dWAR, with a plus-1 defensive runs saved while throwing out 15 of 40 runners attempting to steal last season. He allowed only one passed ball in 549 innings.

If Perez can hit, that’s a bonus.

“He’s got a lot of talent,” Cash said of Perez last season. “And I don’t think we’ve seen the best of what he’s capable of doing yet.”