CLEVELAND, Ohio -- First things first, if catcher Roberto Perez had all the money in the world, and he just so happened to own the Indians, the first thing he’d do was sign shortstop Francisco Lindor to a multiyear contract.
“If I was an owner I would try to sign him,” said Perez, on Feb. 1 at Tribe Fest. “He’s the face of the Indians. If I was starting a franchise, he’d be the face of my franchise.”
Next on the pertinent question front is, of course, the sign-stealing Houston Astros. Perez said he wasn’t overly concerned about the Astros stealing signs when the Indians played them at Minute Maid Park, baseball’s version of the den of iniquity.
“For me, I take a lot of pride behind the plate,” said Perez. "I was more interested in following the game plan and getting our pitchers through the game. I wasn’t worried about a guy on second base stealing our signs. I think we did a pretty good job against them.
“We played them well. To be honest, I was not worried about it. I kept trying to change signs every inning. I had different sets of signs (for different situations).”
The Indians went 3-4 against Houston last season, including splitting four games at Minute Maid Park. They are 11-9 in the regular season against the Astros since 2017 when MLB investigators say Houston started stealing signs electronically. That does not include the Astros’ three-game sweep of the Tribe in the 2018 ALDS.
Still, the counter intelligence game sometimes requires a bottle of extra strength Tylenol.
“It gets in your head, man,” said Perez. "Especially as a catcher. You’ve got so much stuff in your head. You have to have the game plan ready. You have to throw to the bases. You have to hit and then you worry about some teams stealing your signs. It’s hard.
“It looks bad, at same time I’m not blaming anybody. That’s not me. But as a catcher, you’ve got to pay attention to that and come up with different signs. ... I hope that stuff (is over with) and we can just go out and play baseball.”
Indians catcher Roberto Perez autographs a baseball for Jaydon O'Conner, 5, of Painesville, accompanied by his father, Brendon, at Tribe Fest on Feb. 1. cleveland.com
Just a couple more hot-button topics: Robot umpires and MLB’s new three-batter rule for pitchers. Perez isn’t crazy about either one.
MLB has been testing an electronic strike zone and computers calling balls and strikes in the independent Atlantic League and the Arizona Instructional League for the last year. There’s still a human umpire behind the plate, but balls and strikes are being called by a computer.
“They’re trying to get a more consistent strike zone,” said Perez. “For me personally, I don’t like it. I’d rather have the umpire behind me. I think MLB is just trying a lot of new things to see if the robo-umpires would make better calls. At the end of the day, hopefully, they come up with something.”
The strike zone would conceivably change with robot umpires. It would be three-dimensional and reportedly more vertical in nature. That would take away one of Perez’s strength, turning borderline pitches on the corners into strikes with his "framing’ technique.
“Baseball is about framing, right now,” said Perez. “If you’re a catcher, you have to frame. I’m not focusing on framing. I think I’m the kind of catcher who can do three things – I can frame, I can block and I can throw. Yes, framing is part of my game, but if MLB comes with a robo-strike zone, it’s not going to take away anything from my game. I can still block and throw and help my team win.”
The new three-batter rule is aimed primarily at relievers. Commissioner Rob Manfred has grown weary of watching a parade of relievers take the mound to face only one batter. It has left his pace-of-play platform covered with muddy spike prints. Now any pitcher who enters a game has to face the minimum of three batters.
Manager Terry Francona is not a fan of the rule. He says MLB is telling teams how to compete. Francona’s No.1 catcher agrees.
“I don’t like it,” said Perez. “Especially on our team because Tito likes his bullpen a lot. In baseball it’s a strategy. You come in with bases loaded to face a lefty and you bring in a lefty. Then a righty comes up and you bring in the righty. For our team I don’t like it.”
That’s a lot of ground to cover and not a word about Perez’s 2019 season, one of the best ever by Indians who squat behind the plate. In 118 games, covering 993 2/3 innings, Perez did not have one passed ball. He is just the fourth catcher since 1930 to catch at least 118 games and not chase one pitch to the backstop.
Perez won just about every defensive award a player could win last season. The haul included a Gold Glove, his first, the Wilson Defensive Player and Catcher of the Year awards and Baseball Info Solutions Fielding Bible award.
BIS credited him with 30 defensive runs saved, 17 more than any other catcher, and the highest total for a catcher since it started tracking the metric in 2003. He set a franchise fielding percentage for catchers at .997 (three errors in 1,137 chances) and led AL catchers by throwing out 40.8 percent (20-for-49) of the baserunners who challenged him.
“I have to give a lot of credit to Sandy Alomar (Indians catching coach),” said Perez. “He has known me from Day 1. We’re always trying to get better. It starts in spring training. He has made me a better player, a better catcher. I’ve just got to give him all the credit.”
Then there was the offense. Perez, getting a chance to start for the first time in five big-league seasons, hit .239 (93-for-389) with a career-high 24 homers and 63 RBI. He slumped after the All-Star break, hitting .220 (41-for-186) while playing on a sore right ankle that required surgery at the end of the season. He posted a 3.9 WAR, according to baseball-reference.com, third highest among MLB catchers last season.
Indians pitchers and catchers went through their first workout of spring training Thursday in Goodyear, Ariz. Perez said his right ankle was ready to face the spring without restrictions.
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