Cy Young Award Winner Loved Throwing To Giants’ Onil Perez
There’s nothing like praise from a two-time Cy Young Award winner to boost the outlook of a young catcher.
Soon after the Giants signed Blake Snell in March, he had a throwing session with minor league catcher Onil Perez.
High-A Eugene manager Jeremiah Knackstedt related how impressed Snell was with Perez. Snell won the National League CYA last year with the Padres and the American League version with the 2018 Rays.
“Snell basically was like, ‘You’re a big league catcher,’ ” Knackstedt said. “That was a big compliment. I think it gave (Perez) a big boost of confidence as well.”
The Giants signed Perez out of the Dominican Republic in 2019. Between the pandemic and two seasons in Rookie-level complex leagues, he didn’t make his full-season debut until last year.
The 21-year-old Perez carries a reputation as a defense-first catcher.
“He can really throw,” Giants farm director Kyle Haines said, adding that Perez has a “plus arm, plus accuracy, plus exchange (and) release.” In his time at Low-A San Jose and Eugene, Perez had thrown out roughly 25% of basestealers.
Knackstedt, Perez’s manager with San Jose last year, is with Perez again in Eugene this season. The manager called Perez “a leader on the team,” but said he needs to work on his game management.
“No matter what age you are, you’re still trying to learn and grow in that area,” Knackstedt said. “He has put a lot of time and effort into that.”
Perez is a righthanded hitter listed at 6-foot-1, 187 pounds. He struck out just nine times through his first 18 games this year in the Northwest League.
The drawback is that Perez has not displayed a consistent ability to drive the ball. He hit just two home runs last season, and his first five extra-base this year hits were doubles.
Perez was batting .329/.412/.397 and had shown unusual basestealing acumen for a catcher with seven steals in seven tries.
Knackstedt believes more power will come naturally for Perez.
“You see a lot of younger hitters who try to go for power and all of a sudden, the swing-and-misses go up and they strike out a lot,” he said. “He is perfectly content with hitting line drives.”
