Diamondbacks 2022 Season Player Reviews: Geraldo Perdomo

The 22 year old rookie shortstop had an up and down season

© Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

2022 Status: Pre Arb 1, League Minimum

Games	PA	BA	OBP	Slg	OPS	OPS+	HR	RBI	WAR
148	500	.195	.285	.262	.547	58	5	40	0.6

Signed out of the Dominican Republic as an international free agent as a 16-year-old back in 2016, Geraldo Perdomo progressed quickly through the Diamondbacks farm system.

After making his pro debut in the Dominican Summer League in 2017, he made it all the way to Advanced Class A Visalia in the California league at the tender age of 19 in 2019. He hit well there, batting .301 while walking more than he struck out. He spent the entire 2020 season at the Diamondbacks alternate training site and was assigned to AA Amarillo for the 2021 season. 

That began poorly, when he hit just .151 through 47 games. After spending a month back at Salt River Fields working with batting coach Mark Reed he returned to Amarillo and returned to form, batting .329 over the next 38 games. That earned him a promotion to the majors in September where he held his own, going 7-21, .333. 

2022 Diamondbacks Season Reviews

2022 Season Review

Due to an injury to Nick Ahmed, Perdomo made the opening day roster and began the first two weeks of the year as the starting shortstop. He hit just .120 in 12 games, but did manage eight walks. When Ahmed returned Perdomo split time at third base with Sergio Alcantara for the next three weeks while also serving as Ahmed's back up. His bat started to come around a bit while Ahmed struggled with with a shoulder injury that would eventually require surgery, ending his season on May 15th. From there Perdomo was the every day shortstop, starting 113 of the remaining 126 team games. 

Offensively Perdomo's season peaked on June 15th, when he finished the day batting .230/.335/.321, .656 OPS.  Unfortunately from that date forward he mostly slumped,  batting just .173/.253/.226, .478 OPS over his final 91 games, ending up below the Mendoza line for the year. 

Perdomo had the 16th lowest average exit velocity and 12th lowest hard hit rate (over 95MPH exit velocity) among all batters with 200 batted ball events. 

It wasn't all bad however. Perdomo showed a knack for getting hits with runners in scoring position, batting .283,  and driving in 38 while also taking 14 walks. With two outs and RISP he hit .277.  

Perdomo proved to be an adept bunter, leading MLB in sacrifice hits with 12. He also graded out as a very good baserunner, tallying +5 base running runs above average and +2 double play runs.  

Defense

Perdomo's defense started off the year a bit shaky, often looking tentative. But as the season went on he seemed more at ease and natural, and allowed his athleticism to take over. Over at Statcast, he finished  +3 Outs Above average for the year. His arm also rated above average, finishing 8th among 33 shortstops with at least 300 throws. 

He made 14 errors and had a .973 Fldg % at shortstop, which was exactly MLB average. 

2023 Outlook

Perdomo will be entering his age 23 season as a pre arb 2 player, and make slightly above league minimum salary. It is likely that Nick Ahmed, who is in the final year of his contract, will be the starter at shortstop if he is fully recovered from shoulder surgery as expected. However due to age and injury concerns the team may look to limit Ahmed's playing time a bit more than usual. Ahmed also has a wide platoon split, and has always hit left handed pitching much better than right handers. While that may seem to make the switch hitting Perdomo a good platoon partner, in fact Perdomo has struggled to get on base against righties, (but shown more power batting left handed). 

Geraldo Perdomo career platoon splits / Baseball Reference

At the same time switch hitting Sergio Alcantara, who also plays shortstop, third base, and second base, had a decent year as a utility player for the D-backs in 2022. Perhaps more importantly, Alcantara is out of minor league options and having already lost him to waivers once last year before getting him back, the team will be hesitant to go that route again. That may give him the edge over Perdomo, who can still be optioned to the minor leagues without being exposed to waivers. 

Therefore expect spring training to be one of competition. Perdomo will need to have a strong spring just to beat out Alcantara for the utility infielder spot on the roster, and is unlikely to get the nod over Ahmed unless the veteran is limited by injury concerns. 

On top of all that, top prospect Jordan Lawlar is looming, and looks to be a candidate for a late August call up if his development progresses along the current track. 

With all that said, don't count Perdomo out. The team loves his makeup, attitude, and work ethic. He has shown the ability to adapt and improve in the past, and it's too soon to write him off as a weak hitting shortstop. 2023 will be a fascinating year to watch the developments around the Diamondbacks short stop position.