Perez bouncing back from rotator cuff injury

Roberto Perez, for the second straight season as the primary catcher, played 2020 without allowing a passed ball.

Roberto Perez, for the second straight season as the Indians primary catcher, played 2020 without allowing a passed ball.

Perez led all Major League catchers in 2020 by throwing out 71 percent of runners foolish enough to try to steal on him. Fourteen baserunners tried. Ten of them stood, dusted themselves off and then trotted back to the dugout.

One more thing: Perez won a Gold Glove for his defensive prowess, and he did all that with a strained right rotator cuff. Throwing out runners with such an injury could not have been easy.

“Playing through it, some days I didn’t feel it,” Perez said on Zoom from the Indians training complex in Goodyear, Ariz. “Some days I woke up with a lot of pain. Especially hitting was what hurt me the most when I had to extend my arm. I couldn’t really extend it. But you know, man, 2020 is in the books. I’m focusing on 2021. I just hope to be healthy and help these guys win ball games.”

Perez did struggle at the plate in 2020. He became the primary catcher in 2019 after Yan Gomes was traded to the Nationals. Perez responded with a career high 24 home runs, 63 RBI and a .239 batting average in 119 games.

All were career bests for the 32-year-old backstop preparing for his eighth season with the Indians.

Playing with the shoulder injury last year, and appearing in only 32 games because of it and because the novel coronavirus reduced the season to 60 games, Perez homered once, drove in only five runs and scored just six times in 2020. His batting average slumped to .165.

Perez never was in the lineup for his bat. He is the one players the Indians retained when it came to deciding whether to pick up the options they held on Carlos Santana, Brad Hand and Perez. The Indians said goodbye to Santana at $17.5 million and Hand at $10 million and yes to Perez for $5.5 million. The Indians hold a $7 million option on Perez for 2022.

Starting pitcher Zach Plesac was on a Zoom call and asked about trading shortstop Francisco Lindor and starting pitcher Carlos Carraso to the Mets. Rather than mope about that, Plesac focused on what the Indians still have.

“We have all of our pitching staff, really for the most part,” Plesac said. “We lost a key guy. We have the same guy behind the plate who is a Gold Glove and calls the best game in all of baseball in my opinion. So on that side, I think we’re great.”

The relationship Perez has with his pitchers cannot be measured in Gold Gloves or by any stat, as intricate as analytics have become. Goodyear is the place to build those relationships, Perez says, because his pitchers are going to have to trust him with two out and two runners on base in a one-run game in the eighth inning.

“Spring training is for that, to build the relationship with the guys,” Perez said. “Make them trust you. Because you get different guys every year. Side-armers, guys that throw hard. They don’t know where the ball’s going. That’s how you build their confidence.

“Spring training, that’s what it’s all about. I always try to talk to them after bullpens. Asking them where I have to set up on the plate and getting to know them. We’re going to spend a month and a half here, that’s what spring training is for, to get better at that. A lot of communication, a lot of talking.”

Perez said he lost 25 pounds getting into better shape. He exercised with stretch bands to strengthen his rotator cuff. He is ready to go.

“He looks really good,” manager Terry Francona said on Zoom. “When you get a veteran type player that still feels the need to show up like that, man, it kind of gives you an extra little bounce in your step. He looks terrific. It will help him with his health. it will help him bounce back where he can catch more.

“And for him to look that good, he had to work his rear end off. When he won that defensive award, I was happy because it gives us a chance to kind of brag about him. But it’s the things that we see every day and hopefully we don’t ever take for granted, because it’s important.”

The Indians are strong defensively at catcher with Austin Hedges behind Perez. Ryan Lavarnway, 33 years old with 10 seasons of Major League experience, signed a minor league contract with the Indians on Feb. 18 with an invitation to the Major League spring training camp.