Geraldo Perdomo's Spectacular Approach Leads the Diamondbacks

The Arizona Diamondbacks knew what they were doing when they signed shortstop Geraldo Perdomo to a four-year, $45 million contract extension starting in 2026.

Perdomo had already become a leader on the field and in the clubhouse. He quickly became manager Torey Lovullo's go-to player in all tight situations, pushing him to be a field general as shortstops often are. At the same time his own defense had improved to the point where in just four months of the 2024 season he posted +10 defensive runs saved.

Perdomo had become a solid contributor on offense too. Utilizing his plate discipline and keen batting eye, penchant for timely hitting and heads-up baserunning, Perdomo's all-around game more than compensated for a lack of pop in his bat.

That's been changing however. All of the base elements to his game are intact, as good as ever, but he's now added another dimension: the ability to drive the ball and produce damage with slug. Perdomo's average exit velocity has increased every year to the point that it's now reached a league average 88.5 MPH.

Through May 16 Perdomo is batting .294/.397/.458, .854 OPS. That works out to a 138 OPS+, meaning his combined ability to get on base and produce extra bases has been roughly 38% above league average.

Perdomo has 10 doubles and five homers already among his 45 hits for a 33% extra base hit rate. Previously in his career that number has only been 28%. He's on pace for 36 doubles and 18 homers through 45 games.

The timeliness of his hitting has been standout. He leads the Diamondbacks, and in fact all National League shortstops in RBI with 34 (a 122-RBI pace). Friday night's game against the Rockies was an example of how Perdomo is doing it in a number of ways. He had an RBI groundout, a sacrifice fly (a category he leads the league in with 6), and then roped an RBI double.

Manager Torey Lovullo addressed the evolution of his still quite young shortstop.

"We've seen [Perdomo] grow over the last couple of years. You've been here long enough, you understand the type of hitter he was and the work that he's putting in. I see it, and now you guys get a chance to watch it evolve as well. I'm not surprised by it."

For Lovullo, it all comes back to approach.

"He's got a really good approach with men in scoring position," said Lovullo. "He's always been really good at surveying the strike zone, that's what we loved about him from the time he was sixteen years old. Now there's a little bit of thump and force on the baseball, and he can impact the game with one swing of the bat.

"But it's the approach. It's an all-field approach. He's letting the ball get deep, he's counter-punching the pitcher's ability to attack him with men in scoring position. He knows what the at-bat asks for, he's a very smart player."

Perdomo is seeing 4.15 pitches per plate appearances, compared to a league average of 3.86. This is a trait he's always displayed as his career average is 4.11. He's always hit well with runners in scoring position as well. This year he is batting .319 in those situations, but he has a career .290 average with men in scoring position and has never hit below .283.

Perdomo simply doesn't chase, doesn't strike out, draws a well-above-average number of walks, and now has the ability to square up the baseball and drive it in the gap. Add to that the additional "thump" Lovullo is talking about, and even a perfect 10-for-10 in stolen base attempts and it's translated to a very productive player.

So productive in fact that Perdomo's combination of offense, defense, and baserunning has him leading all National League shortstops in both Baseball Reference and FanGraphs WAR. His average between the two metrics is 2.3 WAR, compared to Francisco Lindor's 1.7 and Mookie Betts' 1.6.