Cincinnati Reds: It would be a mistake to give up on José Peraza

The non-tender deadline is today, and José Peraza is definitely a candidate to get the axe. However, the Cincinnati Reds shouldn’t give up on him just yet.

The non-tender deadline is today, and following a paltry showing in 2019, José Peraza is dangerously close to being sent on his way. However, the Cincinnati Reds should not let Peraza go just yet, as the 25-year-old still has some value.

Look, I won’t apologize for it, I’m a big fan of José Peraza. In 2018, Peraza surprised a lot of fans by leading the Reds in hits (182), falling just short of Barry Larkin’s club-record for hits by a shortstop. He smashed 31 doubles and saw a career-high in home runs (14) and RBIs (58). Entering last season, Peraza seemed like a surefire bet to breakout.

But, we all know how that worked out. Scooter Gennett injured his groin just before the 2019 season began, forcing manager David Bell to replace the 2018 All-Star at second base with Peraza. José Iglesias took over at shortstop and put up spectacular defense and was clutch at the plate. Peraza, on the other hand, struggled and was in and out of the lineup all season.

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Plenty of fans have voiced their displeasure with how Bell used Peraza last season. I don’t disagree that Peraza was mismanaged last season, but the infielder’s lack of plate discipline and offensive production really forced Bell’s hand. Peraza had just 18 hits in his first 89 at-bats to begin the season, including an eight-game hitless streak.

It just so happens that Peraza’s slump to begin the season was matched by Derek Dietrich’s rip-roaring start to a spring that saw him hit 12 home runs in the month of May. There was no responsible way that Bell could leave Peraza on the field while Dietrich was hitting the cover off the ball.

Bell began shifting Peraza around the diamond, and even into the outfield in an effort to get Peraza’s bat to wake up. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Through the first three months of the season, José Peraza was hitting just .222 and his on-base percentage was a horrendous .277. To be fair, Peraza was not the only one unable to get the bat on the ball.

During the first three months of the season, Tucker Barnhart was hitting .192, Jesse Winker was sitting at just .248, and outfielder Scott Schebler was dumped not even six weeks into the season after starting 10-for-81 (.123). Even the hero of the first half, Dietrich, saw his batting average fall to .222 through the month of June.

Now, I’m not here to make excuses for José Peraza. A .631 OPS is not going to get it done in today’s game. But, even after hitting just .239 last season, Peraza still owns a career batting average of .273. While I think Peraza will have to expand his game to be more of a utility player, he played just two positions in 2018, but was scattered to six different spots last season.

Peraza is predicted by MLB Trade Rumors to make $3.6M through arbitration next season. That’s a hefty price for a backup middle infielder, especially with Freddy Galvis on the books for $5.5M next season. However, that’s just an estimate, and Peraza and the Reds could work out a deal that better reflects his value heading into 2020.

There’s also the possibility of a trade involving either Peraza or the aforementioned Galvis. Outside of Didi Gregorius, and to a lesser extent, José Iglesias, the free agent market is not ripe with shortstops. Given that the Reds roster is very thin at that position, it may behoove Cincinnati to keep Peraza around for the interim.

Also, keep in mind that Peraza isn’t even 26-years old and has three years of team control remaining. Those are two important numbers for a team like the Cincinnati Reds who typically are looking to control costs.

For those fans who think José Peraza has no plate discipline, you’re right. But, the same goes for Cincinnati’s other two shortstops from last season. Iglesias had a walk-rate of just 3.8% according to FanGraphs, while Peraza’s was a tick higher at 4.2%. Galvis had a strikeout-rate of 24.6%, much higher than that of Peraza’s 14.4%.

There’s also a section of fans who want to belabor the point that Peraza doesn’t make hard contact, a metric created to gauge the amount of authority with which a player hits the ball. FanGraphs classifies the quality of contact as soft, medium, and hard and then quantifies the contact into a percentage.

While fans who point to this statistic are not wrong, as Peraza had 20% soft contact in 2019, his numbers are about equal to that of José Iglesias. In fact, while Peraza’s hard contact (31.9%) was not as high as that of Freddy Galvis (38.1%), he did outduel Iglesias (30.7%) in that category.

Bottomline, José Peraza had a dismal 2019 campaign, but for a small market team like the Cincinnati Reds to give up on him after one poor season would be crazy. Peraza also has one mono league option remaining, which gives the Reds an avenue should they feel that he needs another tuneup at Triple-A Louisville.

Last season, Reds fans saw the Detroit Tigers give up on Iglesias rather than offer him a bump in pay through arbitration. After being let go by Detroit, Iglesias was signed to minor-league deal with the Reds for just $2.5M. The shortstop showed out last year and will be rewarded as a free agent this offseason. You’d hate to see the Reds make a similar mistake with Peraza.