Can Tony Perezchica Impact Astros Infield Defense?
The hiring of Tony Perezchica is a much needed step in the right direction, but it should be just the first step in retooling the infield defense
I’m not sure which came first, the notion that I should take a look at the Astros infield defense as a whole or the Astros announcing the hiring of Tony Perezchica, someone that I’d never heard of.
It doesn’t really matter, but it does imply that the Houston Astros organization realized what we all have: The infield defense was bad in 2024.
Enter Perezchica whose title was listed as “third-base and infield coach/run-prevention coordinator”.
Perezchica had been with the Diamondbacks organization for 22 years and became known as somewhat of an infield defense savant.
Since 2017 the Diamondbacks infielders in total have the fourth highest Outs Above Average and Fielding Runs Prevented, according to Statcast data at Baseball Savant.
It wasn't just the Gold Glovers that flourished and improved under his tutelage. In August of 2024 the D-backs picked up first baseman Josh Bell to fill in for the injured Christian Walker. Bell did not come with a strong defensive reputation, but there seemed to be a quick improvement to his glove game soon after arriving.
If you’ve read my recent posts you may have noticed a trend around the Astros infield: Below average defense, with the exception of Bregman.
Seeing it player by player over a week is one thing, but seeing it all in one chart makes a compelling case that something had to change.
OBB1 stands for “Outs Below Best” (I made it up) and measures the Astros fielders against the best in MLB instead of the “average” fielder.
Why OBB? I asked myself a simple question: Do you want to measure your defense against the average fielder or the best?
The results aren’t pretty as they stand, but imagine what this might look like if Bregman departs in free agency.
What To Do
In our look at first base, we mentioned that a cheap option would be Carlos Santana and it turns out Santana sits atop the AL first basemen at 14 outs above average, so perhaps he’s worth investigating further.
Altuve will be 35 in May and it’s difficult to see positive regression happening there in any meaningful way, but maybe some improvement on the margins.
More intriguing is Jeremy Pena’s steady decline since the Gold Glove of his rookie season and if Perezchica can work some “magic”.
Pena’s only 27, so while the Gold Glove days are likely in the past, there is hope for movement back to positive OAA.
Finally is the really obvious one - re-sign Bregman, as without him at third any gains in other spots could be negated.
There is a real opportunity to improve at least two of the positions - 1st base via free agency and shortstop - while maintaining another by re-signing Bregman.
The Astros have made the first move by hiring what appears to be the best of the best.
That shouldn’t be the end of the changes, but the beginning.
What they were doing wasn’t working and good on them for recognizing the status quo wasn’t acceptable, but there is much more that needs to be done before Opening Day 2025.
Thanks for reading!
OBB is Outs Below Best (I just created it) to show how many outs a fielder is below the player at the position with the highest Outs Above Average.