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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