Jhonny Peralta adequate in the field, at the plate
by Kurt Mensching on Oct 25, 2010 6:00 AM EDT
in Detroit Tigers Analysis
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In some ways, 2010 was a contract year for Jhonny Peralta. Some believe that an athlete will play especially well in the contract year in order to net himself a bigger deal when he gets to the offseason. In Peralta's case, his contract came riding with a team option for 2011 that would be worth $7.25 million to him. If he played well enough, the Indians would pick it up. If not, then he was to become a free agent after the season.
We know it didn't quite work out that way. Peralta became a Detroit Tiger in the month of July after Brandon Inge suffered a broken bone in his hand, and Peralta immediately gave fans and team executives alike a nice show with a two-homer game his first time in the Old English D. However he began to cool off a bit after that and put up nearly the same rate numbers as he did in Cleveland.
One change that gave him the opportunity to add to his value was that Detroit decided to move him to shortstop when third baseman Brandon Inge returned from the disabled list. This meant numbers that are on the light side from the power corner suddenly look a lot better if he's playing one of the toughest positions on the field reasonably well. He did just that in Detroit. It wasn't a thing of beauty, maybe, but his defense proved adequate to the Tigers.
Did he do enough to earn his option for 2011? It's hard to say. The Tigers didn't immediately pick up the option, so they're working on their own numbers and projections right now before deciding on whether to do that or offer him a different contract.
What did I think? Peralta did well enough in Detroit, actually, but I have my reservations about how he'll perform over the course of the entire year.
C+ for his time with the team, but I could see arguments for giving him a B.
At the plate:
| Year | Age | Tm | Lg | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | OPS+ | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 28 | TOT | AL | 148 | 615 | 551 | 60 | 137 | 30 | 2 | 15 | 81 | 1 | 0 | 53 | 103 | .249 | .311 | .392 | .703 | 94 | ||||||||
| 2010 | 28 | CLE | AL | 91 | 373 | 334 | 37 | 82 | 23 | 2 | 7 | 43 | 1 | 0 | 32 | 69 | .246 | .308 | .389 | .698 | 95 | ||||||||
| 2010 | 28 | DET | AL | 57 | 242 | 217 | 23 | 55 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 34 | .253 | .314 | .396 | .710 | 92 |
Despite appearances otherwise, Peralta was nearly the same batter in Detroit as he was in Cleveland. Whether you think that's good or bad depends on your perception of his career in the Indians uniform. Indians fans perceive it to be pretty poor, I've heard.
I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't point out those stats were above-average for a starting shortstop in the American League. As well, Peralta had above-average power for a middle infielder and drove in a fair amount of runs. ... He spent most of his season batting fifth or sixth, which is a bit higher in the lineup than you'd expect for a guy with an OPS of .700, so he had a lot of opportunities there.
In the field:
The scouting report on Peralta's defense depends who you ask. TangoTiger lists him both on the Indians page and the Tigers page for the 2010 Scouting Report. At both locales, he is rated as below-average defensively for his reaction, range and hands, and a bit above average for throwing strength and accuracy. The Indians' voters just happen to see him waaay below average for his range, and they have for years. (I guess that explains why Cleveland moved him to third base.)
Now if you look at his Ultimate Zone Rating, the story isn't quite as bad. He was awful as shortstop in 2006 and 2007, but more or less average in 2008. As a third baseman in 2009 and 2010, he was a couple of runs below average. He returned to shortstop in Detroit, where he was again a bit below average.
By any measurement, Peralta is a below-average shortstop.
What 2010 tells us about 2011:
A number of things make Peralta's next season a hard one to predict. In the past, he has had above-average production, only to see it slip away the next year. He's really only had one great season at the plate, but he has been above average (especially for as shortstop) several times. He his stats for the past three years have been in a downward slope.
His OPS in Comerica Park through the years:
2006 - .394
2007 - .633
2008 - .665
2009 - .548
2010 -- .589
That is quite worrisome if he is signed to continue his career playing half his games in Comerica Park.
However, he just finished his 28-year-old season. He cut his strikeout rate in 2010. He showed a slight uptick in power production. His batting average for balls in play fell 38 points below his career norm, caused by a sudden upswing in the number of fly balls he hit. He could build on his improvements with better "luck" in 2011, but he's going to have to swing for the fences less.
Overall, based on the trends, I believe his 2011 would be worse in Detroit than the overall stats he put up.
Resources:
I used Baseball-Reference, Fangraphs, and TangoTiger's Fan Scouting Reports.
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C
Not bad, not great
Better than Adam Everett, for sure
I guess better than any other options we currently have
What is the deal with Danny Worth? Any chance at him getting a shot or is he not “worth” it?
Whatever happened to the possibility of Cale Iorg making the bigs? Last I saw, his numbers were not very good at all.
If they aren’t very good in the minors, chances are they are going to be worse in the majors.
Grade B
I gave him a B grading him as a SS. If he was playing 3B with those numbers it would be a C. But as Kurt points out, his numbers aren’t bad for a SS. I’ll take 15 HRs and 80 RBI’s with a .250 AB from him as our SS next year if they bring him back. That would be better than anybody else we could get to play SS and he’s not a butcher in the field. It’s another slim pickens position for us in the minors, so what else can you do? With the ALCS over and the team with the better pitching winning it, I hope DD gets us some help for the rotation, because “Pitching wins Championships”.
"Pitching wins Championships".
. . . but defense makes pitching . . .
I like the RBI. With Danny Worth and Santiago to back Inge and him up, the Tigers are OK with SS and 3B.
by StephenGrosberg on Oct 25, 2010 9:02 AM EDT reply actions
I don't think Worth makes the team if Peralta is SS
As of now (no trades), I see the team using Sizemore and Rhymes as opposed to Worth. Both bring more to the table with the bat than Worth does and there’s just not enough roster space to carry Peralta, Santiago, Rhymes, Sizemore, and Worth.
Granderson was my Tiger, then Sizemore, then Willis. Since they're all gone, I'm taking Raburn and hoping the pattern holds.
B-
but since that doesnt show in the poll, I voted B. He’s not that bad. I know there are people who don’t care for him, but he’s an upgrade from others i’ve seen at SS before. I can think of 2 right off the top of my head.
President & Founder of the "Bring back the Big Tilde in 2k11" Campaign
The production from SS is very nice
Perhaps it’s a little Everett hangover effect (You know, how even bad food tastes decent when you’re hungry), but the defense looked good enough to me to justify his bat…and we’re talking about a bat that, even harboring a .650 OPS, is way better than Everett has done in 5 years. If our last regular SS hadn’t been simply so aweful with the bat (and I really mean aweful), I might not be as impressed with Peralta.
I gave him a C based on his overall “averageness” and I don’t think he deserves a grade boost from playing out of position. If he were a natural shortstop, I’d give him a B in comparing to other shortstops. Since I gave Inge a C at 3B, I have to give Peralta a C because he’s a 3B who just happens to be shifting right a zone.
I’d like to see them pick up the option because I think he’s a good one-year stop-gap at SS. I don’t want him on the books in 2012, and I think if the team tries to negotiate, he will want more than one year. The option is over-priced (Peralta should really be making less than Inge since the bats are similar and the gloves are not.), but at least we can dump him after a year. I’d rather have Peralta at 1yr / 7.5M than 2yr / 11M unless they can frontload a 2 year deal and then trade him.
Granderson was my Tiger, then Sizemore, then Willis. Since they're all gone, I'm taking Raburn and hoping the pattern holds.
Peralta gets a D for his season
and Incomplete for his work with the Tigers
Overall, Peralta was -5.8 runs below the league average shortstop at the plate, and -3.9 runs below league average in the field. That makes him a D.
By comparison, Santiago was -6.2 runs at the plate but plus 10.1 runs in the field.
I don’t agree that his defense is adequate. He’s the reincarnation of Edgar Renteria, and no better than that.
No question that Jhonny cleaned up his act when he got to Detroit, but there is a good reason that the Injuns dumped him and agreed to pay his salary to play for a division rival. He sucked in Cleveland. His average was the second lowest in the league among qualified shortstops, better than only Cesar Izturis. His RBI numbers do stand out for a shortstop, but he had far more AB’s with RISP than almost anyone, and he’ll need all of that to justify keeping him in the lineup with his (lack of) defense. Those that want him back are dreaming of the player that out slugged his deficiencies in the field. They’ll point to his last two months in Detroit, and ignore his last two seasons in Cleveland. If he is back, I wouldn’t make it any more than a one year deal, with maybe a club option on a second year. He needs to be playing for a contract, because he seems to lack the motivation to play otherwise.
If you survived 2003, you can get through this!
surprised no indians fans came by to give him an E
just for fun
Director of the 2010 Free Casper Wells campaign
No Run Support
by allikazoo on Oct 25, 2010 12:27 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
haha
pooy Jhonny
President & Founder of the "Bring back the Big Tilde in 2k11" Campaign
by Detroitchik on Oct 25, 2010 12:54 PM EDT up reply actions
They're too busy plotting revenge on Lebron.
I gave Jhonny a C because spelling counts.
Ryan Raburn antagonist.
Scott Sizemore liberationist.
Peralta is ready for break out year with Tigers.
I think the Tigers should keep Jhonny and sign him to a 2yr contract so we have time to find are own shortstop thru the minor leagues.That being said i like what he brings to the table decent power and decent in the field.The Tigers also told him they would like him to lose some weight if he commits himself like Magg’s did last year i expect him to have a big year.And he sure beat what we got from Everret and he’s 28.
I swear I posted in here earlier
1) Agree with the C+ grade
2) The title of Kurt’s post made me thing of Stuart Smalley, “Jhonny’s good enough, smart enough, and doggone it, Dave Dombrowski likes him!”
3) Not sure how I feel about him sticking around for a year, or more. Numbers don’t look like they’re going off a cliff (pulling a Renteria?), but on the other hand, Renteria didn’t give any indication, save for a single bad year, of how atrocious he might be in the AL. Is Peralta going to be able to keep up his decent production (for a SS over the last couple months of the season) over the course of a year, or will he be the mediocrity the Indians were glad to unload?
I'm expecting 100% improvement from the Lions this season.
play around a bit there
and you’ll find Renteria better at the same age when you compare OBP and Slugging, and I think it’s safe to say Peralta isn’t much better than Renteria in the field.
by Kurt Mensching on Oct 25, 2010 6:40 PM EDT up reply actions
Wonder how Peralta would have done in the national league?
Moot point, obviously, as far as his continued employment in Detroit goes.
But it did make me spare a thought about how steady, unspectacular players in the AL might have done in the senior circuit.
Omar Infante, for example, goes from also ran to All Star. Does someone like Peralta, or a Ramon Santiago have a similar leap in them, gievn the right situation?
I'm expecting 100% improvement from the Lions this season.
I liked Renteria
I wish it would of worked out for him here in Detroit.
+1
B at SS
Not sure why anyone would hate him.
At 3B, I’d probably give him about a C .
At SS, I think he solved our biggest problem and became a valuable player.
His bat is above average. His power is well above average for a SS. His run production is among the top at SS.
Defensively, his range is decent, but is below average for a SS. He doesn’t make too many mistakes though.
Durability wise, he’s one of the most solid players in the MLB. He’s never been on the DL in his entire career.
Personality, he’s a quiet guy, but says all the right things. He wants to play here, which is another huge plus. It’s not easy finding guys who actually want to play in Detroit.
I think he still has plenty of upside and I’d be thrilled if we can get him back for next season.
+1
C
I gave him a C in voting But it is a C+. I hope he has the break-out season I think he will have in 2011. I like Brandon & Jhonny on the left side of our infield.
" In Peralta’s case, his contract came riding with a team option for 2011 that would be worth $7.25 million to him."
But Not At This Price. Offer him the same as Brandon, no more.
I was at the Strasburg game in Cleveland amd saw some bad plays by Peralta on defense. He booted at least one ball and there were two balls hit to 3B that were well within his range, but Peralta just stopped and let the balls roll to the left fielder. Im not liking having Jhonny as our everyday SS in ’11
Member of the Will Rymes fanclub.
B- for Peralta
Nice bat, especially with runners on. Adequate glove, especially with Binge at 3rdshort (kidding…). Not worth the 7 million, but hey it’s not my money. I agree that the numbers look much better at the SS position. Kind of like Carlos a few years back. I can live with it…
Country Strong
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