Salvador Perez has had a season for the ages. Perez’s 48 home runs ties Jorge Soler for the single-season franchise home run record. Since Perez made his big league debut a decade ago, only five players have hit more in a single season. And to display that much power as a catcher? That is literally unmatched. With Perez’s 46th home run, he eclipsed Johnny Bench for most home runs hit in a single season by a catcher. Ever.
While Perez isn’t a great pitch framer—which is why there’s so much discrepancy between his Wins Above Replacement figure from Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference—he is the best catcher in baseball at controlling the run game.