Jhonny Peralta: Then And Now

By Chris Kline
October 17, 2007

When the high Class A Kinston roster was released to local writers in 2001, all three of them couldn’t believe their eyes.

"That’s not a misspelling you’re looking at under the infielders," then radio broadcaster Robert Portnoy said. "It actually is ‘Jhonny’ Peralta."

Though no one knew who Peralta was then--it was just his second year of pro ball after moving over to the States for the first time in 2000--they certainly know how he spells his first name now.

And so we look at how much Peralta’s game has changed from a rangy 16-year-old kid the Indians signed out of the Dominican Republic for $18,000 in 1999 to the postseason force he’s become for the Tribe this season:

"He was all over the place with his approach for almost his entire minor league career," a scout with a National League club said. "You’d watch him in (low Class A) Columbus (in 2000) or Kinston (in 2001) and see maybe five at-bats. In each at-bat he’d have a completely different approach. He’d have a huge front leg kick one time, he’d stay balanced on his back leg the next time. He’d have a lot of hand movement in his set-up one time and then be totally still the next. He had no idea who or what he was.

"Defensively, he was outstanding--especially in that year at Kinston. A lot of that had to do with Macier Izturis playing second base doing a great job of keeping him under control with his feeds on the double play--Izturis just kept him level-headed--whether that's a Latin thing or not I don't know. He had range, he had presence. His presence was more of a defender than as the power-hitting shortstop he is now.

"He showed flashes of having that ability--but I never would have thought he’d be doing what he’s doing now with the bat. No way. You saw it in Cleveland’s system with other Latin guys like (Willy) Taveras or (Rafael) Perez. You could see the big leagues in them in some shape or form.

"With Peralta, there was no shape. There was no form. He was a guy I thought might get to Triple-A and bounce back and forth for five years and be done. I never would have thought he’d be able to do what he’s done. And as much as his approach changed early, when he got consistent with it, he’d get killed by breaking balls out of the zone. He was a guy who would always take his bottom hand off and duck."

Since his time in the minors, Peralta established himself as a big leaguer over the last three seasons. But probably not as a shortstop, where he's drawn criticism from within the organization.

As he’s grown into his body, Peralta’s range has diminished considerably and with the emergence of Asdrubal Cabrera on the big league roster over Josh Barfield at second base, Peralta should be the future at third base with Cabrera shifting to his natural position at short as the club moves forward past this season.

"I don’t think he was ever an average defender (in the big leagues)," said another scout from an NL club. "And now, he’s a 40 (on the 20-80 scouting scale)  for me. And it’s not just the range you question--it’s the hands, it’s his actions. There’s no doubt he has the arm strength, but it would play a lot better on the corner and he wouldn’t be as challenged as he is now.

"He hits for power to all fields. His defensive tools have diminished from what they used to be when he was younger, but that’s not a bad thing . . . not when you consider the bat. Any other time, you'd be worried. You move him over and you could have an average defender on the corner who can just mash. That’s who Jhonny Peralta is today.

"At the plate, he figured it out. He simplified things in his set-up and loads pretty easy with explosion through the zone. He still swings and misses too much. But this could be a guy that goes from 20 homers a year to 30 or 35 homers a year once he’s not concerned with having to prove he can stay in the middle of the diamond."