Salvador Perez: Where Does He Rank in 2016?

By Brad Kelly | Oct 17, 2015

Over the last three years you would be hard press to find any better all-round better catcher in baseball other than Salvador Perez. He has the rare combination of great defense and solid power production to make him every bit as valuable in fantasy as in real life.

The catcher position is one of the more taboo spots in fantasy sports as you will find different draft strategies from any owner ask. There are those owners that are not afraid to invest a premium pick at the position to secure a weekly advantage and then there are those that punt the spot in general and wait from a player to fall to them.

Each side has a valid argument for whatever side they believe in, but there are such players that offer somewhat of the best of both worlds. Clearly Buster Posey remains the best fantasy catcher as he continues to post premium lines year in year out. After he is selected though, the position becomes wide open as they are a clump of players that start to file into the next tier. Normally I would be an owner to chase power options to fill in my C slot, as trying to seek plus AVG options is nearly impossible.

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Often the main argument against taking a C early, is that they are the most prone to injuries as they hold the most physically rigorous spot on the diamond. There is no doubting this as they seem to be one fluke injury away from a foul ball or back-swing causing them to miss significant time.

This is where Salvador Perez’s value comes about. To but it simply, Perez NEVER seems to come off the field. To put it in perspective, out of the last three seasons or 486 games, excluding playoffs, Perez has played in 430 of those contests!

Obviously at such a demanding position betting on someone’s health can seem to be troublesome and to some extent that remains to be true, but when do we start to look past that and to the fact that Perez is simply a warrior and durability is one of skill set he brings to the table.

More playing time or more games played usually rewards players by offering them the ability to add counting stats. Salvador Perez’s consistency allows owners the opportunity to insert him into their lineups and basically never have to replace him over the entire season. That in itself is worth a mid-round and that does not take into account his improving offensive production either.

When I see any full-time C have the ability to bat over .250, I truly look at as a fantasy bonus because it becomes rarer each passing year. Perez has been able to do that over the last three seasons, even if it is barely as he has batted exactly .260 the last two years.

When Salvador Perez first came onto the scene his value came from the plus AVG he showed, he had an AVG of .292 in 2013. But, he lacked the higher end power that we seek out from the position as he only had 13 in 2013 and followed that up with 17 in 2014.

The basic reasons for him not getting over the power hump until this season, was that he just did not hit enough line drives which usually translates into a power uptick. However in 2015, we finally saw the improvement.

In 2013 his LD% was 22%, he then improved it to 26% in 2014 and saw his HR increase by four. In 2015 it jumped to 28% and his homer total climbed by another four. The pattern here is that he starting to make more consistent hard contact which has parlayed itself into Perez entering the 20+ HR mark making him a prime C option.

Going into 2016, my early ranking has him easily in the top 5 C, and even flirting with top 3 status as his durability, power uptick over the last three years, and his decent AVG offer owners an invaluable player.

Salvador Perez still seems to be overlooked at drafts, because his numbers do not really jump of the page at anyone. But, with an improving Royals lineup and the reasons I listed above, Perez is a premium produced at a discounted cost.

Next: DJ LeMahieu: MI Value

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