Pittsburgh Pirates: What They’re Getting In Michael Perez

Taking a deep look at what the Pittsburgh Pirates are getting in new catcher Michael Perez, who the team claimed off waivers on Friday.

Friday afternoon, the Pittsburgh Pirates added a catcher to their 40-man roster. The team claimed left-handed swining Michael Perez off waivers after he was designated for assignment by the Tampa Bay Rays.

Adding Perez came as part of a flurry of roster moves on Friday. These moves included outrighting catchers Luke Maile and Johny Ryan Murphy, with Murphy becoming a free agent, off of the 40-man roster. By outrighting Maile and Murphy, this opens the door for Perez to open the 2021 season as part of the MLB roster for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

After being drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2011, Perez was traded to the Rays in 2018. Perez then made his MLB debut for the Rays in 2018, hitting for a .284/.304/.392 slash line to go with a 90 wRC+ in 80 plate appearances.

In 2019, Perez accumulated 55 more PAs with the Rays. This time around he hit for a .217/.345/.326 slash line, with a wRC+ of 91. While both of these seasons put him at a slightly below league average hitter it is above average offense for a catcher, especially a back up cathcer.

This past season, Perez slipped offensively. He hit for just a .167/.237/.238 slash line with a 35 wRC+ in a career-high 93 PAs. In the psotseason, however, he swung a hot bat for the American League Champions. Perez appeared in eight postseason games, slashing .286/.286/.714 with a home run and a wRC+ of 166.

Moving forward, there is reason to expect Perez’s offense to be better than it was in 2020. First of all, he had a batting average on balls in play of just .228. League average BAbip is .300, and a BAbip of .228 indicates that Perez was the victim of bad luck.

Second, Perez has always hit the ball well. He owns a lifetime hard hit rate of 34.3% and an exit velcoity of 88.7 MPH. League average hard hit rate is 34.9%, and exit velcoity is 88.3 MPH. So, his career numbers for those stats are just a hair under average and just a hair above. Hitting the ball at these rates should lead to at least average offensive position, which, again, is something any team will take from a catcher, especially their back up catcher.

Perez’s biggest calling card in his career has always been defense. While he is just an average pitch framer, Perez makes up for it with the rest of his defense. The 28-year-old Perez is coming off a 2020 season in which he posted a career best 2.5 dWAR. He posted a +1 Defensive Runs Saved in 2020, and his career DRS is +4. He has allowed jsut one passed ball in 549 career innings caught, and he has thrown out 15 of 40 attempted base stealers.

Perez will prove to be an upgrade over Maile or Murphy in the catching room for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The combination of Perez and Stallings could be the best defensive catching duo in the National League in 2021. This is something that will make Derek Shelton and a young Pirate pitching staff happy next season.