Indians: Roberto Perez is an absolute warrior

The Cleveland Indians have two Gold Glove winners this year and one did not have the easiest path to the award throughout the entire season.

The Cleveland Indians made a bold move to trade away Yan Gomes last offseason. That came months after sending Francisco Mejia to San Diego after he was supposed to be the heir apparent behind the plate.

The moves showed just how confident the Indians were in Roberto Perez. He responded by winning his first Gold Glove Award.

Perez had all the top numbers and was the clear favorite. But he was also doing this through some intense pain, according to Indians beat writer Mandy Bell:

In case you read that too quickly, he was dealing with that ankle pain since April. The start of the season. An injury to an ankle, which is a pretty important body part for a catcher. So not only did he have a historic season, but he did it all while battling through pain every single day.

That is just another reason why it is so easy to root for a player like Perez.

It’s wild to think that at the start of the 2018 season we were talking about when Mejia could assume his throne. When the prospect could take over for Gomes, with Perez being an afterthought.

Clearly the front office made the right move and saw Perez’s potential if allowed to play a full season.

His 119 total games were a huge rise over his previous career-high of 73 games. That is not an easy adjustment to go from backup to starter and he proved he could have been starting all along.

With all the questions about the makeup of this team moving forward we can all at least rest easy knowing one of the most important positions on the team is held down by one of the best at his respective position.

Let’s see what Perez can do once he is fully healthy. He should only get better.