As a championship contending team should, the Cleveland Indians do not have a ton of questions to answer heading into Spring Training. Aside from if Holby Milner can stick as a Rule 5 LOOGY, what they might do at center field and the ominous question about Michael Brantley’s health, the Indians only need to answer what they’re going to do at catcher.
The question is probably fairly easy though. Yan Gomes is owed $4.5 million this year as part of the six year/$23 million contract he signed in March of 2014. Money will likely dictate his playing time because Roberto Perez isn’t even arbitration eligible yet. But should the Indians let money make the decision for them and did they err when they gave Gomes that contract?
Gomes’ swinging strike rate wasn’t anything special in 2013 when he began to supplant Carlos Santana at catcher. In fact, he was perfectly average as was his contact rate while roughly maintaining the same average strikeout rate and below average walk rate he had shown in the minor leagues. (I started at Double-A with Gomes’ profile because A-ball pitchers location is awful and so were Gomes’ strikeout rates even then.)
| Year | BB% | K% | ISO | BABIP | Hard hit% | Pull % | Shifts faced | Swinging K% | Contact % |
| 2011 (Double-A) | 8.10% | 24.30% | 214 | 0.292 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2012 (Triple-A) | 7.50% | 21.60% | 230 | 0.392 | NA | NA | NA | N/A | NA |
| 2012 (MLB) | 5.40% | 28.8 | 163 | 0.248 | 30% | 52.90% | 1 | 16.10% | 70.10% |
| 2013 | 5.60% | 20.80% | 188 | 0.342 | 32.20% | 42.20% | 4 | 9.70% | 80.10% |
| 2014 | 4.60% | 23.20% | 194 | 0.326 | 31% | 42.60% | 36 | 11.80% | 76.40% |
| 2015 | 3.30% | 26.70% | 160 | 0.285 | 27.90% | 37.40% | 29 | 10.70% | 79.50% |
| 2016 | 3.40% | 26.10% | 159 | 0.189 | 27.20% | 42.40% | 43 | 12.80% | 77.50% |
Courtesy of Fangraphs
Each year we’ve seen Gomes’ BABIPs come back to earth as he’s had more at-bats and his K% and BB% are mirroring his minor league rates. His hard hit rate has dropped off a bit since 2013 and 2014. Even before both of his injuries in 2015 and 2016, his numbers were still way down. Also not coincidentally, Gomes’ has always been pull heavy and with more playing time, he’s seen his shifts faced rise each year. Even though he had 124 less PAs in 2016 than 2015 due to injury, Gomes still saw 14 more shifts. This is not insignificant and also plays into his BABIP.
The more alarming issue is that Gomes’ strong defense justified his playing time when his bat began to slip. However, Roberto Perez has now passed him in that respect.
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | |||||||||
| FRAA | Frm R | CS% | FRAA | Frm R | CS% | FRAA | Frm R | CS% | FRAA | Frm R | CS% | |
| Gomes | 16.9 | 14.7 | 41% | 15.8 | 9.8 | 32% | -3.1 | -2.6 | 33% | -5.9 | -2.6 | 37% |
| Perez | 19.9 (AAA) | 17.9 | 53% | 4.1 | 1.9 | 36% | 7.9 | 4.7 | 42% | 10.5 | 8 | 50% |
Courtesy of Baseball Prospectus and Baseball Reference
Gomes’ caught stealing percentage has been above average or at average since 2013, but Perez has also passed him there in addition to framing. FRAA Adjusted (Framing Runs Above Average Adjusted) takes into account Framing Runs, Throwing Runs as well as Blocking Runs and Perez over the last two years has excelled in all facets over Gomes. Blame it on the injuries but Perez has overtaken Gomes defensively.
Offensively, Perez has put up two superior seasons to Gomes’ simply thanks to his plate discipline. Perez has compiled a 14.6 and 12.5 BB% in 2015 and 2016 respectively with a K% of 28.3 at 23.9 in those years. A 15% walk rate is deemed as “excellent” by Fangraphs. Miguel Cabrera’s walk rate was 11% last year. While Perez’s strikeout rates are up there in the danger zone with Gomes, Perez at least boasts an elite walk rate. With a .305 BABIP in 2015, Perez put up a wRC+ of 108. A .229 BABIP last year helped drag it that down to 58. His line drive and hard hit percentage did drop off, but we do know Perez was rushed back from injury.
Perez’s lone offensive skill that he holds over Gomes now is plate discipline and the ability to take a walk. Gomes’ batted ball profile has been trending in a bad direction since his playing time increased from his days as a member of the ‘Goon Squad’ in 2013. It’s possible less exposure might help Gomes recover some of his power because without his pop, Gomes’ offensive profile doesn’t add much else and now that Perez’s defense has surprised Gomes, there’s not much more argument to be made for Gomes to get the lion’s share of the playing time now other than his contract.
The Indians might have jumped the gun a little early on his contract, but at the time, his defensive skills were elite and teams are willing to pay for pitch framing (as evidenced by the Twins giving Jason Castro eight million a year over three years despite a below average offensive profile), so it was a good risk by the Indians, possibly a safe one.
If the Indians want to put the best nine on the field every single night, Perez should be their catcher and he fits into the nine-spot perfectly thanks to his on-base skills in front of Carlos Santana at the top of the lineup and the collection of talented hitters that will follow Santana in the lineup.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
