Roberto Perez undergoes season-ending surgery; Giants turn page at catcher
Giants move on at catcher after Pérez's season-ending surgery originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Roberto Pérez injury ended up being as bad as it looked.
The Giants announced that Pérez underwent season-ending surgery on his right rotator cuff on Wednesday. The veteran catcher is returning to San Francisco to begin a rehab program.
The Giants signed Pérez to a minor league deal in February with the hope that he would win a job alongside Joey Bart. Pérez ended up starting on Opening Day because manager Gabe Kapler wanted a veteran behind the plate for Logan Webb's first start at Yankee Stadium, but he got hurt during the home opener while making a throw to second.
Pérez played just five games, continuing a trend that has impacted the career of a player who won back-to-back Gold Glove Awards for the Cleveland Guardians. Injuries have limited Perez to just 70 games since he won his second Gold Glove in 2020.
The Giants will move forward with Joey Bart and Blake Sabol behind the plate, with Bart looking to reestablish himself as the locked-in starter and long-term solution. He came off the IL on Monday and had a pair of hits Wednesday while also making a strong throw to second and having one of his better framing nights.
Sabol, a Rule 5 pick, has struggled at the plate but shown enough defensively that the Giants feel comfortable with him as one of their two catchers. As a left-handed hitter, he's a good complement to Bart.
Gary Sanchez is 2-for-17 in Triple-A so far and can opt out of his deal if he's not in the big leagues by May 1. Kapler said on Wednesday that Sanchez is still knocking some of the rust off after not spending the spring in a big league camp.
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"We probably want to see a little bit more," Kapler said. "Not that he's doing anything wrong or that anything has made us have less faith in his ability to impact the roster, but he probably needs a little bit more time."
When the Giants signed Sanchez, it looked like Pérez would pair with either him or Bart. The 34-year-old is a good game-caller and has a strong reputation behind the plate, but his time in San Francisco is now likely over. In addition to Bart and Sabol, the Giants are high on Patrick Bailey, a former first-rounder who is in Double-A right now but may be the best defensive catcher in the entire organization.
