Make way for another Silver Slugger award
It's a power hitting edition of Into The Fountains with another honor coming Salvador Perez's way and a power hitting prodigy in the AFL.
Another day…another shortlist for Salvador Perez! It just won’t stop!
This one is for the Silver Slugger Award. This is handed out by position and voted on by managers and coaches. Salvy has three Silver Sluggers in his trophy case, winning in 2016, 2018 and 2020. This year, he’s a finalist with Tampa’s Mike Zunino, who actually led all catchers in home runs in 2021 (Perez hit 15 of his home runs as a designated hitter), and Gary Sanchez of the Yankees.
Who do you think should win?
I know! But before you answer, let’s see how the finalists compare. Hell, let’s throw this party open to all AL catchers with at least 350 plate appearances. Maybe there are some nice parting gifts for those who didn’t make the final three.
First, what I like to call the baseball card stats. I took the liberty of bolding the leader in each of the categories.
Well, that’s interesting. And dominating.
When you visit a site like Fangraphs and run a table like the one above, it defaults to batters who are “qualified.” Meaning those who had enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. Here’s the rub: Only one AL catcher had enough plate appearances to qualify. And you know who I’m talking about.
Remove Perez’s plate appearances as a designated hitter and he’s at 501 on the season. (That’s one less than the 502 required to qualify.) Perez still leads the field in playing time at the position. And he led all catchers in every single baseball card statistic aside from stolen bases. But since this is a Royals newsletter, I should point out that while Perez did not led the position in steals, he was one of three AL catchers with more than 350 plate appearances to actually record a stolen base. Is there nothing he can’t do?
Let’s expand the statistics a little bit for the sabermetrically inclined.
This is where things get a little intriguing.
Mike Zunino hit 15 fewer dingers than Perez, but Perez came to the plate a whopping 290 more. Zunino hit a home run every 10.1 ABs. Perez went yard once every 12.9 ABs. As impressive as Salvy’s power production was in 2021, Zunino’s was just as mind-blowing.
Then you have Yasmani Grandal who led the AL (and the world) in walk rate. Seriously. The next closest was the King of the Three True Outcomes, Joey Gallo who finished with an 18 percent walk rate. Third place in the AL was Shohei Ohtani at 15 percent. (Juan Soto led the NL at 22.2 percent.) So when you’re walking that much, you’re going to have an awesome OBP which, in turn, will lead to a fantastic wOBA. Of course, it helps that Grandal can hit dingers, too. What a season he had.
This is where my hackles are a tad elevated. I want these awards to be perfect. I want the best three offensive AL catchers to be the finalists. Gary Sanchez? Get the hell out of here with that. Look at the wOBA and the wRC+ numbers at the end of the table above. There were three outstanding offensive catchers in the AL this year. Then there was everyone else. Sanchez was with everyone else. Grandal was snubbed.
And because I like balance, I am duty-bound to point out that both Zunino and Grandal had the same number of plate appearances in 2021.
GIF Interlude!
You may see the lack of black in the sabermetric table above and think that perhaps Perez is not worthy. (Who am I kidding, you definitely think Perez is going to win this.) While he doesn’t lead the league in any of the sabermetric categories, he is still plenty strong. He’s third in ISO, second in OBP (Second! That’s with a walk rate under five percent!) and second in slugging. He’s tied for second in wOBA and third in wRC+. As mentioned, the guy who is ahead of Perez in some of these categories is not a finalist.
Add everything together and Fangraphs will give you an offensive run value. Three of the 10 catchers finished with a positive value. Guess who.
Even if Grandal had made the finals, there’s no way he’s getting past Perez’s home run and RBI totals. And that Perez stacks up very well in the sabermetric stats—while it probably doesn’t help him so much with the voting bloc of managers and coaches—it doesn’t hurt that he carried his dominance there as well.
Clear some room in the trophy case…this Silver Slugger is going home with Perez. The award will be announced on November 11.
I haven’t mentioned Seuly Matias in any AFL updates. Perhaps I remedy that oversight.
One loses the ball after it enters orbit. I’m assuming it scraped some sort of space junk before it re-entered the atmosphere. But the sound…oh yes, the sound. That’s worth playing over and over and over.
Just a mammoth blast from the player who Baseball America still grades as having the best raw power in the system. In 29 at bats for the Surprise Saguaros, Matias is hitting .241/.343/.586 with a team-high three home runs and nine RBI.
Space Junk gonna get a like from this guy. New Leaf forever.