CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Indians placed a lot of faith in Roberto Perez when they dealt American League All-Star catcher Yan Gomes to the Washington Nationals last fall for pitcher Jefry Rodriguez and outfielder Daniel Johnson.
In his first year as a full-time starter, Perez repaid that belief with success, both at and behind the plate, where he managed a pitching staff ravaged by injuries and a life-altering illness to the starting rotation and inconsistencies from the bullpen throughout the season.
Although Major League Baseball has not yet announced the finalists for the Rawlings Gold Glove Awards, which will be handed out on November 3, Perez definitely belongs on the list, and realistically, should bring home the honor for the first time in his career.
Here is a look at three reasons why Perez should be the runaway winner of the AL Gold Glove Award for catchers.
Defensive stats
Over 118 games, including 114 starts behind the plate, Perez logged 993.2 innings of work, nearly double his previous career high. In 1,137 chances, Perez registered 1,082 putouts, 52 assists, helped turn 12 double plays and committed only three errors.
Perez committed two less errors in 2019 than he did in 58 games played during the 2018 season (five).
Advanced statistics
Perez’s .997 fielding percentage was tied for the highest single-season showing of his career, and the previous one came in 2017, when he backstopped the Indians for just 71 games, including 66 starts.
Perez had zero passed balls in his 118 games. Only Bill Dicky (1931), Al Todd (1937) and Johnny Bench (1975) caught more games than Perez without committing a passed ball. Also, Perez caught 40.8 percent of the would-be base stealers, which was tops in the American League.
Because of his defensive prowess, Perez collected 29 defensive runs saved this season, and not only did he have 17 more than any other catcher, he led the American League in DRS, regardless of position. Perez had the most defensive runs saved by a catcher since St. Louis Cardinals great Yadier Molina in 2013.
Managing the staff
Perez is no stranger to managing a starting pitching rotation that had been decimated by injuries, as was the case during the 2016 MLB Playoffs, when the Indians came within one victory of a World Series Championship despite having just two healthy starters for the month of October.
The Indians began the 2019 season with Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, Carlos Carrasco, Mike Clevinger and Shane Bieber in the starting rotation, but by the end of the year, only two were still starting (Clevinger and Bieber) and one was no longer on the team.
Clevinger was the first to get bitten by the injury bug, as he suffered an upper back strain after his second start and missed several weeks of action before returning to help anchor the rotation during the stretch run of the 2019 season.
Kluber battled ineffectiveness throughout April, and on May 1, suffered what turned out to be a season-ending injury when a line drive against the Miami Marlins resulted in a broken bone in his pitching arm.
Then, Bauer was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in July and Carrasco went through a battle with chronic myeloid leukemia before returning to the Indians in a relief role on September 1.
That left Perez to manage a staff that was peppered with young arms, namely Zach Plesac and Aaron Civale, but because of his work, the first-year Indians who started the season at Double-A Akron were key contributors on a team in the hunt for the postseason until the final series of the season.
Despite the inexperience, Bieber led the way with 15 wins, while Clevinger (13), Plesac (eight) and Civale (three) contributed a combined 24 victories.
Civale, Plesac and Bieber combined for just nine wild pitches, and Plesac was the league leader with six pickoffs.