Blake Perkins is Well Past Being Just a Nice Extra Guy

The Milwaukee Brewers' 42nd win of the season ended in dramatic fashion, with a bullseye of a throw to the plate to kill the tying run. It came from the hand of the team's least heralded outfielder, but that very player might deserve an increasing degree of prioritization from the team.

Image courtesy of © Michael McLoone-USA TODAY Sports

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If you start by setting a baseline for playing time from ages 24-27, then look for center fielders with an OPS+ between 90 and 105 and at least 20 Fielding Runs above average (Rfield, on Baseball Reference), you can find a list of pretty good comps for Blake Perkins at this moment. What's missing from his résumé, relative to the others, is a longer track record, but he's a reasonable facsimile of several of these players, based on his young Brewers career to date.

Now, obviously, there are some illustrious names here, and comparing Perkins to them feels forced. There are also some who seem like perfectly fine comparators to Perkins, but don't get you very excited about his long-term future. That's the right way to feel. This profile doesn't age extraordinarily well, because it's dependent on defense, which usually has a relatively steep aging curve. Even a slight decline in offense puts you on the wrong side of average, and then a backslide defensively makes you a downright subpar player.

Query Results Table
Rk	Player	HR	PA	OPS+ ▼	Rfield	From	To	HR	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS+	WAR	WAA
1	Curt Flood	33	2837	104	41	1962	1965	33	42	32	178	217	.305	.353	.404	104	19.5	9.2
2	Aaron Rowand	50	1675	104	34	2002	2005	50	33	11	81	282	.282	.333	.453	104	11.3	5.4
3	Torii Hunter	87	2207	103	26	2000	2003	87	42	24	132	417	.268	.317	.472	103	12.2	4.4
4	Carlos Gómez	56	1618	103	52	2010	2013	56	111	18	89	380	.261	.311	.448	103	12.7	7.7
5	Marquis Grissom	50	2518	103	31	1991	1994	50	243	46	169	312	.282	.332	.415	103	18.5	11.1
6	Austin Jackson	42	2555	102	31	2011	2014	42	62	24	222	588	.269	.334	.402	102	15.1	6.6
7	Harrison Bader	44	1359	101	47	2018	2021	44	38	11	117	367	.244	.325	.420	101	10.5	6.0
8	Bill North	10	2038	101	52	1972	1975	10	143	58	241	288	.266	.358	.332	101	16.3	9.4
9	Peter Bourjos	22	1237	98	26	2011	2014	22	40	13	77	289	.254	.314	.389	98	8.3	4.0
10	Mike Cameron	62	2168	98	57	1997	2000	62	112	32	250	484	.250	.344	.424	98	15.5	8.2
11	Chris Young	84	2523	97	30	2008	2011	84	75	25	275	582	.240	.325	.431	97	11.5	3.9
12	Willie Davis	39	2510	97	36	1964	1967	39	108	38	80	273	.269	.295	.384	97	15.6	6.2
13	Ender Inciarte	30	2517	96	62	2015	2018	30	87	40	169	306	.291	.341	.395	96	14.8	7.1
14	Jackie Bradley Jr.	54	1855	94	50	2014	2017	54	28	5	169	457	.242	.321	.412	94	12.0	5.5
15	Juan Beníquez	17	1715	93	46	1974	1977	17	69	45	132	186	.268	.327	.362	93	8.8	2.8
16	Devon White	58	2363	90	61	1987	1990	58	114	41	137	464	.248	.294	.390	90	14.7	7.0

Provided by Stathead.com: Found with Stathead. See Full Results.
Generated 6/16/2024.

Therefore, the Brewers shouldn't entertain signing Perkins to a contract extension or anything. They don't have to make any long-term commitments to him. What they should do, however, is make sure to give him a nice long leash. In the short (and perhaps medium) term, Perkins should be an everyday presence in the lineup. He's a superb defender. Despite the athleticism of Jackson Chourio and the derring-do of Sal Frelick, and even if and when Garrett Mitchell and Joey Wiemer get healthy again, Perkins stands a stride ahead of any of his teammates with the glove. Making him the third jewel in an up-the-middle triangle of marvelous defenders (along with Willy Adames and Brice Turang) would give the Crew the lockdown defense they need to keep overachieving right on into October.

That doesn't mean Perkins is a pure plug-and-play guy, and he's not quite a perfect complement to their existing corps of outfielders. As is true of just about every switch-hitter, there are two Blake Perkinses, and one can hit a lot better than the other. Perkins is a much stronger lefty batter (facing right-handed pitchers) than he is against southpaws.

Blake Perkins, 2024 Platoon Splits

Pitcher Hand	PA	Swing%	Miss%	10/50/90 EV %iles	Hit95+%	LA10-30%	Barrel%	FBDst	BA	OBP	SLG	ISO	BABIP	K%	BB%
Righty	172	42.20%	30.60%	62/86/101	41.50%	30.20%	17.90%	332	0.26	0.331	0.39	0.13	0.353	28.50%	8.10%
Lefty	58	41.20%	26.60%	67.7/83.7/.99.2	30.80%	20.50%	12.80%	286.7	0.212	0.293	0.308	0.096	0.263	22.40%	10.30%

The samples here are small, but it's on Perkins's jacket, and you can see it in his swing, too: he's better from the left side. That said, some of the peripheral indicators listed alongside the raw outcomes above show how he can be a credible hitter even from his weaker side, much of the time. He's patient from either side of the plate. he whiffs a little bit less from the right side of it. He just doesn't have any power against lefty hurlers.

In a perfect world, he'd be a bit more balanced, since all the current and looming alternatives to him (Frelick and Mitchell, most of all) also bat left-handed and are better against right-handed pitching. That's not a Perkins problem, though; it's a Wiemer and Chris Roller problem. Against right-handed starters, Perkins should bat sixth or seventh much of the time, and then he could be pinch-hit for. If that comes at the expense of Frelick--and even if it forces him off the roster--so be it.

Against lefties, he can still squeeze into the lineup, batting ninth and offering tons of defensive value between at-bats.

It's unfortunate, but the often-overpowering impulse for baseball people is to downplay the success of late bloomers with a dearth of sheer hitting skills that set a ceiling on their value. In this case, it's important to resist that temptation, even as it's also crucial to maintain perspective and avoid getting overly exuberant about him. Perkins has carved out a real role for himself. Given the production the Brewers are getting from William Contreras, Christian Yelich, Willy Adames, and Rhys Hoskins, they can easily afford to fold Perkins into the lineup, and they can get a lot of value out of him, the same way teams derived a lot of value from Inciarte, Bradley, and Bourjos.

With more playing time throughout this summer, it should become fairly clear whether Perkins can be even more than that--whether he can have the kind of multi-faceted impact that Rowand, Gómez, Grissom, Cameron, and Davis had. Mitchell deserves to get a look again once he's fully healthy, but it should happen in relief and support of Perkins, rather than by way of supplanting him.

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