Up until today, I believed that bulls got angry when they saw the color red. Spanish matadors have been using red capes to induce bulls to charge them since the 1700s, so it must be true, right? I mean, that’s what everyone said. And I wonder how the media is able to manipulate and why advertising is a gazillion dollar industry. Because of lazy peons like me! All it takes is a little research and….ta dow!!! The Mythbusters performed an experiment back in 2007. I love those guys and girl. Anyways, they showed that bulls charge due to the movement of the cape, not the color. In fact, bulls are color blind!!!
Which brings me to Hernan Perez. Over the past week, Perez is batting .409 with two home runs, to elevate his batting average from .179 to .262. Which team did he do the majority of his damage against? The Cincinnati Reds. Perez has a total of three home runs on the season. If I shift three beads on my abacus to the left, then take one of those beads and move it back to the middle, that leaves one bead. I love my abacus. Abacuses, or is it abaci, are very inefficient tools but they are fun to play with and make for good desktop decor. Enough about my abaci. Damn, I suddenly have an urge to run to my local sushi restaurant and order some albacore. Anyways, the other home run Perez hit was against? The Cincinnati Reds.
In 98 plate appearances against the Reds, Perez has a .301/.320/.559 slash line with five home runs. Small sample size for sure, but it’s the second-most plate appearances in his career against a single opponent. The first? Chicago Cubs. Color? Blue. I can’t stop bopping my head to this right now:
So, what’s his beef with the Reds? Maybe he hates the color of red and gets so infuriated when he plays Cincinnati that he just gets so riled up and mashes against them. Like a bull charging a matador perhaps? Hopefully you read the intro to this piece. I don’t think Perez is color-blind, so you can never dismiss the possibility, but he did play against the St. Louis Cardinals, so that theory can pretty much be tossed out the window.
His mashing against the Reds probably has to do with the fact that the Reds have one of the worst, if not the worst, pitching staff in all of baseball. They are 26th in OPS and I wrote a little something-something about them here.
Perez has value, especially since he plays all over the diamond. Currently he’s eligible at 3B and OF. He’s also played five games at SS. Perez also stole 34 bases last season. With that said, I just want to make sure no one thinks he’s suddenly breaking out here. Yes, the 10% walk rate and 17% strikeout rate are nice, but he’s a career 4% walk guy. The .295 ISO is not sustainable, unless he were to play the Reds every game. He still has an 11% swinging strike rate, which is down from 13% last year, but still a high number. The number for me that kind of solidifies everything is that he still swings at 40% of pitches outside the strike zone.
VERDICT
