While Corbin Carroll is the D-backs' top player and one of the most well-rounded players in the sport, Arizona has another player producing all-around value that we should be talking more about.
25-year-old shortstop Geraldo Perdomo is in the midst of a breakout season where he is flashing skills all over the field. Heading into Friday’s games, Perdomo is hitting .306/.402/.488 with six home runs and 11 stolen bases, along with excellent defense at shortstop.
Take one look at the FanGraphs Wins Above Replacement leaderboard, and you’ll see how Perdomo fares with some of the top players in the Majors.
Highest fWAR among position players, 2025
1. Aaron Judge: 4.3
2-T. Pete Crow-Armstrong: 2.9
2-T. Cal Raleigh: 2.9
4-T. Shohei Ohtani: 2.8
4-T. Bobby Witt Jr.: 2.8
4-T. Corbin Carroll: 2.8
4-T. Geraldo Perdomo: 2.8
That’s a collection of the best players in the sport, and the D-backs' young shortstop. One might point to his 2023 season, when Perdomo was selected for his first All-Star Game after posting 2.0 WAR and a 117 wRC+ in the first half, before falling off a cliff in the second half with 0.3 WAR and a 73 wRC+ the rest of the way.
But Perdomo has made meaningful strides across his whole game this season that make his newfound level believable, at least to a certain extent. What’s propelled Perdomo to this kind of season? Let’s dive in.
All stats below are through Wednesday.
Elite plate discipline and bat-to-ball skills
When the D-backs signed Perdomo to a long-term extension in February, they saw a player who was a key cog in their competitive window.
“The two most excited players for this deal should be Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte,” D-backs general manager Mike Hazen said. “He turns the lineup over for us consistently. He has tough at-bats against tough relievers, and we value that. Offensive production is not just about home runs. He's part of the foundation of what we're trying to build.”
What Perdomo has done at the dish so far might be even beyond Arizona’s wildest imaginations of the hitter he could become. Perdomo’s .402 on-base percentage is tied for sixth among qualified hitters, while his 145 wRC+ trails only CJ Abrams, Jacob Wilson and Zach Neto among primary shortstops with at least 100 plate appearances.
Perdomo already had a good idea of what he was doing at the plate before this year -- his 11.0 percent walk rate and 17.8 percent strikeout rate his first four years were evidence of that -- but he’s taken it up a notch this season.
Perdomo from 2021-24 vs. 2025
OBP: .327 vs. .402
BB rate: 11.0% vs. 14.7%
K rate: 17.8% vs. 11.8%
Whiff rate: 16.1% vs. 12.0%
In-zone contact rate: 88.4% vs. 92.4%
Perdomo’s all-around plate discipline and contact skills put him in unique company. He is the only qualified hitter this season with a walk rate (93rd percentile), strikeout rate (93rd), chase rate (94th) and whiff rate (97th) in the 90th percentile or better.
Improved contact quality
Perdomo’s most notable changes at the plate have centered around his approach and ability to make contact, but he’s also made meaningful improvements with his contact quality.
Perdomo might be over his skis a bit -- his .344 expected wOBA (based on quality and quantity of contact) is 44 points lower than his actual .386 wOBA -- but he’s also hit the ball much harder this season.
Perdomo from 2021-24 vs. 2025
xwOBA: .275 vs. .344
xBA: .215 vs. .262
xSLG: .289 vs. .405
Hard-hit rate: 23.5% vs. 33.8%
Barrel rate: 2.0% vs. 5.2%
Bat speed: 66.4 mph vs. 68.4 mph *
Blast rate: 5.6% vs. 10.5% *
*Bat tracking stats have been tracked since the 2023 All-Star break.
Perdomo won’t be confused for a premier slugger, but getting to something resembling league-average power is a big deal given the rest of his skillset. Whereas he was one of the least impactful power hitters from 2021-24, Perdomo’s improved power has boosted his entire offensive profile.
Just to illustrate this point, from 2021-24, Perdomo’s .289 xSLG was the ninth-worst among players with at least 500 plate appearances. His .405 xSLG this season, meanwhile, isn’t much lower than the league-average .424 mark. And after producing just 20 barrels in 997 batted balls before this year, Perdomo already has eight barrels on 154 balls in play this season.
Part of the new power can be tied to his 1.5 mph increase in bat speed compared to last season. While an additional 1.5 mph doesn’t seem like much, every one mph of added bat speed on balls in the air earns you approximately six more feet of distance. That’s a key reason why Perdomo has already matched his career high with six home runs.
The switch-hitting Perdomo has also been a force from both sides of the plate. In 146 plate appearances from the left side, Perdomo has a 139 wRC+ and .351 expected wOBA, while he’s running a 161 wRC+ and .327 expected wOBA in 65 plate appearances as a right-hander.
Elite defense and baserunning
Before this season, Perdomo’s above-average shortstop defense and baserunning ability were his main calling cards as an everyday player. Much like his offensive level, though, Perdomo has also made huge strides at shortstop and on the bases.
In 2,959 innings from 2021-24, Perdomo accumulated four Outs Above Average, which made him a valuable defensive asset, given he was doing most of that work at shortstop. In 2025, Perdomo has racked up five OAA, which only trails four primary shortstops.
Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating already pegged Perdomo as a better shortstop than OAA before this season, but now all the publicly available defensive metrics are claiming the same thing: Perdomo is an excellent defensive shortstop.
Perdomo has also turned into one of baseball’s biggest threats on the bases. Perdomo has already swiped 11 bases, a top 20 figure in the Majors and just five away from his career high of 16 stolen bases in 2023.
By Statcast’s baserunning value, Perdomo’s three runs added on the bases are tied for the most in the Majors with speedsters like Carroll, Byron Buxton, Crow-Armstrong, Witt Jr. and Elly De La Cruz. FanGraphs’ baserunning runs added, too, have Perdomo (+3.5 runs) tied with Kyle Tucker as the top baserunner in the sport.
The difference between Perdomo and the others? Perdomo’s 26.9 feet-per-second sprint speed ranks in the 43rd percentile. The “slowest” remaining player of that group is De La Cruz, who ranks in the 89th percentile with a 28.8 feet-per-second sprint speed and has stole an MLB-leading 83 bases since the beginning of last season.
Add all of these elements together -- the elite plate discipline and contact skills, improved power and outstanding defense and baserunning -- and you have one of the most exciting players in the Majors this season.
Even if Perdomo cools off a tad, you’re looking at a player with a baseline of excellent shortstop defense and baserunning, along with a bat that can be 10 to 20 percent better than the league average player. That makes for a borderline star and one the D-backs will have around for the long run.