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SF Giants catcher Roberto Pérez undergoes season-ending surgery

SF Giants catcher Roberto Pérez has undergone season-ending surgery to repair the rotator cuff in his right shoulder.

Marc Delucchi

SF Giants catcher Roberto Pérez undergoes season-ending surgery
SF Giants catcher Roberto Pérez undergoes season-ending surgery /
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The SF Giants announced on Thursday that catcher Roberto Pérez is out for the rest of the 2023 season after undergoing surgery to repair the rotator cuff in his right shoulder. Pérez was placed on the 60-day injured list last week after abruptly leaving the Giants game against the Royals with an injury. In the end, Pérez appeared in five games with the Giants, finishing 2-for-15 at the plate with an RBI, two walks, and six strikeouts.

The Giants signed Pérez this offseason to a minor-league contract, beating out the Boston Red Sox for the former two-time Gold Glove award winner. He was coming off a promising season with the Pittsburgh Pirates that was similarly preemptively cut short by injuries, in that case it was a season-ending hamstring injury. He hit .233/.333/.367 in 69 plate appearances.

A 10-year MLB veteran, Pérez is an excellent defensive catcher who has spent most of his career with the Cleveland Guardians. However, Pérez has always been limited offensively and is a career .207/.298/.360 hitter.

Pérez's injury creates an added complication for the Giants catching depth. While they currently have Joey Bart and Blake Sabol on the big-league roster, Sabol is a Rule 5 pick who cannot be optioned to the minor leagues. Moreover, they recently designated veteran Austin Wynns for assignment.

They agreed to a minor-league deal with two-time All-Star Gary Sánchez earlier this month, but he must be added to the big-league roster by May 1st. Otherwise, he can opt-out of his contract. While the team surely plans to promote Sánchez in the next few weeks, they have limited upper minors catching options if they are unable to keep Sabol in the organization. Perhaps the SF Giants will attempt to negotiate a trade with the Pirates, the team that Sabol was drafted away from, to allow them to option him to the minors.

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Marc Delucchi
MARC DELUCCHI

Marc Delucchi (he/they/she) serves as the Managing Editor at Giants Baseball Insider, leading their SF Giants coverage. As a freelance journalist, he has previously covered the San Francisco Giants at Around the Foghorn and McCovey Chronicles. He also currently contributes to Niners Nation, Golden State of Mind, and Baseball Prospectus. He has previously been featured in several other publications, including SFGate, ProFootballRumors, Niners Wire, GrandStand Central, Call to the Pen, and Just Baseball. Over his journalistic career, Marc has conducted investigations into how one prep baseball player lost a college opportunity during the pandemic (Baseball Prospectus) and the rampant mistreatment of players at the University of Hawaii football program under former head coach Todd Graham (SFGate). He has also broken dozens of news stories around professional baseball, primarily around the SF Giants organization, including the draft signing of Kyle Harrison, injuries and promotions to top prospects like Heliot Ramos, and trade details in the Kris Bryant deal. Marc received a Bachelor's degree from Kenyon College with a major in economics and a minor in Spanish. During his time in college, he conducted a summer research project attempting to predict the future minor-league performance of NCAA hitters, worked as a data analyst for the school's Women's basketball team, and worked as a play-by-play announcer/color commentator for the basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. He also worked as an amateur baseball scout with the Collegiate Baseball Scouting Network (later renamed Evolution Metrix), scouting high school and college players for three draft cycles. For tips and inquiries, feel free to reach out to Marc directly on Twitter or via email (delucchimarc@gmail.com).

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