Should Salvador Perez Be Considered a Top 10 Catcher in the Game Right Now?

When you start having a discussion with someone else about who the best catcher's in the game, the discussion probably starts out with two prominent names: Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants and Yadier Molina of the St. Louis Cardinals. Throughout the discussion, you might also hear Marlins catcher, J.T. Realmuto's name, along with Wilson Contreras of the Chicago Cubs and Gary Sanchez of the New York Yankees. Furthermore, another potential name you might expect to hear is, Salvador Perez, but depending on who you're talking to and the stats the other person is basing their decision off of, will depend on whether or not they regard Perez as one of the game's best catchers.

For many years now, Salvador Perez has been a Royals icon alongside, the other core of players that he came up through the minor leagues with, who are all free agents now like: Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Alcides Escobar, and Lorenzo Cain. "Salvy" as Royals fans have nicknamed him, has appeared in five All-Star Games as recently as last summers in Miami and won four Gold Glove Awards along with a Silver Slugger Award during his 7-year big league career. While all of that is fine and dandy, they are all accolades at the end of the day and pale in comparison to statistics that many look at when evaluating a catcher including their pitch framing skills.

Dating back to 2015, Salvador Perez has always ranked in the bottom 10 in pitch framing among all of the catchers in the league. Beginning in 2015, Perez had a pitch framing rate of (-68) followed by a  (-146) rating in 2016, which was a league worst, and finished last season with a (-199) pitch framing rate which put him just ahead of James McCann of the Detroit Tigers. In contrast, Buster Posey had a pitch framing rate of (114) in 2015, (201) in 2016, and (12) last season. For comparison's sake, let's look at, Yadier Molina, as well who finished with a pitch framing rate of (43) in 2015, (70) in 2016, and (-3) last season. Granted, all three catcher's experienced a decrease over the three seasons, but neither Buster Posey or Yadier Molina have as low of a pitch framing rate as Salvador Perez over that span.

When you look at the percentage of balls that Perez has been able to get over the past three seasons, the numbers put him in the bottom third of catchers in the league, but they've increased over each season as well. In 2015, Perez recorded a zBall% of (13.7) followed by a zBall% of (15.4) in 2016 and finished last season with a (17.0) zBall%. Looking at Yadier Molina again, he finished 2015 with a zBall% of (12.9), a (13.2%) in 2016, and completed last season with a (16.0) zBall%. On the other hand, Buster Posey completed the 2015 season with a zBall% of (11.8), recorded a (10.1) zBall% in 2016, and played to the tune of a (12.4) zBall% last year. Overall, all three catchers had fairly similar results over the three seasons, but this helps to illustrate the point.

Shifting to, Weighted Runs Above Average, otherwise known as wRAA which measures how much offense a player contributes to their team compared to the average player, things don't look all that rosy either. Perez finished 2015 with a (-9.1) wRAA, which was 8th worst in the league, put up a (-19.5) wRAA in 2016, which put him dead last, and finished last season with a wRAA of (-26.4), second worst among the league. Over that same span of time, Buster Posey finished with a (15.2) wRAA in 2015, a (26.8) wRAA in 2016, and a measly (1.6) wRAA last season. Furthermore, Yadier Molina finished the 2015 season with a (5.7) wRAA, the 2016 season with a (9.3) wRAA and last year complied a (-0.7) wRAA.

Given all of these numbers, it is easy to see why Salvador Perez didn't rank among the Top 10 Catchers in the game this past season. However, for those that aren't as sabermetrically inclined, here's some other numbers that you might understand better which help to illustrate the amount of offense that Perez has put up over the past three seasons.

Over the past three seasons, Perez has hit: .258/.288/.451 over 1,516 at bats with 391 hits, 77 doubles, 3 triples, 70 home runs, 214 RBI, 52 walks, 2 stolen bases, and 296 strikeouts. Furthermore, he had a Wins Above Replacement (WAR) rating of (2.3) in 2015, (2.7) in 2016, and (2.5) last season.

In comparison, over the past three seasons, Buster Posey has slugged: .308/.380/.455 over 1,590 at bats with 490 hits, 95 doubles, 2 triples, 45 home runs, 242 RBI, 181 walks, 14 stolen bases, and 186 strikeouts. In terms of WAR, Posey finished 2015 with a (6.1) rating, had a (4.6) rating in 2016, and concluded last season with a (4.0) WAR. As illustrated by those WAR amounts, Posey has declined in this category, whereas, Salvador Perez has gone up in 2016 and back down again last season.

Beyond Buster Posey, let's once again take a look at Yadier Molina for comparison's sake. From 2015-2017, Molina hit: .284/.328/.406 over the span of 1,523 at bats with 433 hits, 88 doubles, 4 triples, 30 home runs, 201 RBI, 99 walks, 15 stolen bases, and 196 strikeouts. Molina finished the 2015 season with a Wins Above Replacement (WAR) rate of (1.4), in 2016 he had a (3.0) WAR, and last season finished with a WAR rating of (2.0). Overall, when comparing Salvador Perez to Yadier Molina in terms of WAR, Perez is the more valuable catcher.

When it comes to health and trying to see whose been the healthiest among Salvador Perez, Yadier Molina, and Buster Posey, no one has the advantage as each one has stayed relatively healthy. During that amount of time, he only missed 16 days last season with a right intercostal muscle strain. On the other hand, Yadier Molina has missed virtually no time over the past three seasons and Buster Posey only missed a week last season with a concussion.

Regardless of how you look at it, Yadier Molina and Buster Posey are always going to lead the talk when it comes to the best catchers in the game and it is well justified to exclude Salvador Perez from the Top 10 list. While "Salvy", as Royals fans refer to him, has been an All-Star the past 5 seasons and has won a number of awards, his catching statistics don't help to back up those accolades especially when it comes to pitch framing. Although some Royals fans will argue with that, the point is that Perez still has a lot to prove before he can be considered among the Top 10 especially with the emergence of young catchers like Wilson Contreras, J.T. Realmuto, and Gary Sanchez.