Tampa Bay Rays activate C Michael Perez, option him to Triple-A

The Tampa Bay Rays have activated catcher Michael Perez off of the 10-day Injured List and have optioned him to Triple-A Durham.

Perez was originally placed on the Injured List on May 8th with right oblique soreness. He began a rehab assignment on June 2nd and has played in a total of five games, showing no signs of further injury as he has eight hits over 18 plate appearances, including a two home run game on Sunday.

However, the emergence of Travis d’Arnaud and Mike Zunino’s return from the Injured List, has left Perez without a position on the big league roster.

Perez, who was acquired by the Rays for Matt Andriese at the 2018 trade deadline, has done a solid job for Tampa Bay since the trade.

Thus far in 2019, Perez has hit .257/.370/.385 over 46 plate appearances, accruing a total of 0.3 fWAR over 15 games played.

Although it’s some tough luck for Perez, having him in Durham is excellent catching depth for the Rays to have as their backstops have gone through an extremely rough month with the injuries to Perez and Zunino, as well as Nick Ciuffo, who will be out for extended period of time.