Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo added to NL All-Star team
Shortstop Geraldo Perdomo became the Diamondbacks’ fourth All-Star on Friday when he was named to the National League club. He is taking the place of the Cubs' Dansby Swanson, who is dealing with a heel injury.
Perdomo is hitting .274/.381/.416 with five homers and nine steals. He has been a steady defender at shortstop, where he has been charged with just one error and ranks in the 81st percentile at his position in outs above average, per Baseball Savant.
The young shortstop has had an incredible turnaround from last year, when he ranked among the least productive hitters in the majors, hitting .195 with a .547 OPS. Perdomo becomes the fourth Diamondback to make the NL All-Star team, joining teammates Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Zac Gallen and Corbin Carroll.
When Perdomo missed the initial cut for the MLB All-Star Game in Seattle, he was going to stay in the Valley and continue to work on his game with some time off. His manager Tony Lovullo joked with him that he’s become very American in his two years here and will probably eat some Chick-Fil-A over the break.
“Yeah, I probably will,” Perdomo said to Lovullo.
But then just two days ago, his mother called him to tell him about a dream she had about him. She saw lots of Perdomo’s teammates, the media and lots of fans making lots of noise. Perdomo said his mother doesn’t know much about the game of baseball, so she couldn’t tell him what event it was. He inferred his mother was talking about the All-Star game, but said that it’ll have to be next year and that it won’t be in 2023.
Fast forward to today, the D-Backs shortstop was named an injury replacement for Swanson. After getting the call, Perdomo said all he could do was run to express his excitement for the honor. The dream wasn’t always his, but his cousin Yewri Guillen’s, who passed away in 2011 shortly after signing a contract with the Washington Nationals.
“That was part of his dream to be an all-star, to be here in the show,” Perdomo said. “So for me, it's just like a dream come true just for him.”
Often leading off the lineup, the coaching staff has been thrilled with his jump in production and is ecstatic for his opportunity.
“There's zero negotiation, it is him because he was voted in by his peers as the third best shortstop in baseball in the National League,” Lovullo said. “That is a tremendous honor for him, a tremendous honor for this organization and for everybody that has touched his life.”
Perdomo will have the day off today to celebrate this honor in the season opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo added to NL All-Star team
