Team has 3rd catching option
By Marc Lancaster
Post staff reporter

CHICAGO - Since Jason LaRue and Javier Valentin kick-started their hitting in May, the Reds' two-headed catching monster has been nothing but a positive.

Those two have been so productive - combining for a .274 average, 25 home runs and 96 RBIs - that manager Jerry Narron never has to worry that keeping one or the other on the bench to start a game will severely limit the Reds' offensive capabilities.

Keeping both on the bench would be something altogether different, and Narron can't quite envision going that route even though he now has a third option at the position, rookie call-up Miguel Perez.

"I'm not going to say Miguel is not going to start a game," said Narron. "But as well as both of these guys have played, it's going to be difficult to sit both of them."

Either LaRue or Valentin has started behind the plate in 144 of the Reds' 145 games this year. The one exception came June 14 in Boston, when Dane Sardinha got the nod with LaRue on bereavement leave.

For his part, Perez said Tuesday he doesn't really expect to get a start - not that he would turn it down. With less than two weeks to go before his 22nd birthday, he considers every experience he's having during his big-league baptism a bonus.

"This opportunity is really unbelievable, it's amazing," said Perez. "I know why I'm here; I know I'm here to gain experience."

He also is well aware that the only reason he's here after spending most of the year at Class A Sarasota is that Sardinha suffered a season-ending knee injury last month. Perez was the only other catcher on the 40-man roster, and that convenience along with the desire to have a third catcher around in September led the Reds to bring one of their top prospects up well before his projected time of arrival.

Perez has appeared in one game in the week he has been with the club, coming on to pinch-hit in a blowout loss to Milwaukee last Wednesday and staying in the game to catch. He flied to center and grounded into a fielder's choice in his two plate appearances.

The young Venezuelan knows that the mere fact that he's in the majors is "kind of crazy," but he'll take whatever chance he can get to be on the field in the meantime. In all likelihood, he'll be back in the minors to begin next season, but he believes the lessons he absorbs now will pay dividends whenever he returns for good.

"I want to be here and get experience, watch the games and learn," he said. "That's the only way I can get better and know how to play baseball up here."
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