Who should be A.L. All-Star catcher?
Fan voting for the All-Star Game starters ended Thursday, and as of last week, the Royals’ Salvador Perez led American League catchers by a wide margin. Perez is already a two-time All-Star, but the A’s Stephen Vogt has built a strong argument for going to his first All-Star Game. Here’s how they match up (stats through Thursday):
NOTABLE TRAIT
Perez: Wears women’s perfume for every game. According to The New York Times, Perez started the ritual after a teammate sprayed him before a game in which he got four hits. Victoria’s Secret is a preferred brand.
Vogt: Skilled at impressions. Vogt has displayed his ability at team talent shows during spring training and on the MLB Network show “Intentional Talk.” His best impressions include an NBA referee and Matt Foley, the Chris Farley character from “Saturday Night Live.”
PerezVogt | ||
72 | Games | 77 |
44-32 | Team record | 37-45 |
270 | At-bats | 248 |
26 | Runs | 39 |
71 | Hits | 72 |
12 | Doubles | 11 |
0 | Triples | 2 |
13 | Home runs | 13 |
34 | RBIs | 53 |
5 | Walks | 39 |
38 | Strikeouts | 59 |
.263 | Batting avg. | .290 |
.275 | On-base pct. | .382 |
.452 | Slugging pct. | .508 |
.998 | Fielding pct. | .995 |
35%Caught stealing32% | ||
1.2 | WAR | 2.6 |
25 | Age | 30 |
#VoteRoyals | All-Star hashtag | #VoteVogt |
Sources: baseball-reference.com; FanGraphs
QUOTABLE
▪ Vogt on the dangers of catching: “Foul tips always find where you’re not protected.”
▪ Royals instructor Jason Kendall, a former catcher, on Perez: “I’ve never seen a guy behind the plate be so smooth with everything he does. He’s the closest to automatic there is in the game.”
Matt Kawahara
This story was originally published July 3, 2015 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Who should be A.L. All-Star catcher?."