Pereda seizes long-awaited moment, then notches first 3-hit night

PITTSBURGH -- Jhonny Pereda spent a lot of time waiting for his first Major League opportunity. He persevered through 11 seasons in the Minor Leagues -- four in which he spent at least part of the season at Triple-A, waiting for that final call into the manager’s office -- to reach his debut this season, then got his first MLB hit just last month.

Now that he’s in MLB, Pereda is seeing playing time, but he’s still having to be patient. Behind starting catcher Nick Fortes, he’s tried to seize opportunities and show his upside in the starts he’s able to draw.

That’s what he did on Tuesday in Miami’s 6-4 loss to the Pirates at PNC Park. On a night of spotty offense against the Pirates’ bullpen, Pereda was able to break through for three hits, including an RBI single.

But before his bat got hot, Pereda showed off his arm. With two outs in the second, Pirates infielder Nick Gonzales took off from first. Pereda popped out of his catching stance in 1.94 seconds, which is better than the average pop time among MLB catchers, and fired an 80.2 mph dart to Otto Lopez, who tagged Gonzales on the hand.

As big as his first MLB hit was to him, Pereda said the first caught stealing is a moment he’ll never forget.

“I was waiting for this moment since the beginning, since I started playing baseball at this level,” Pereda said through interpreter Luis Dorante Jr.

Unfortunately, the ball got tossed into the stands as the Marlins headed off the field -- just as it did when Elly De La Cruz tossed the ball from Pereda’s first hit in Miami to a ball boy, who gave it to a kid. But no hard feelings: He has both baseballs.

“It will go alongside my ball from my first base hit,” Pereda said, “I hope to stay in the big leagues for many years so I can add more and more stuff to a really nice room with this memorabilia.”

At the plate, Pereda made contact all night. The Pirates’ bullpen went eight up, eight down to start the game before Pereda broke through for an opposite-field single off lefty Joey Wentz. Then, two batters after Kyle Stowers hit the first of his two doubles in the game, Pereda went back to right field with an oppo knock to give Miami its first run.

After a groundout in the seventh, Pereda notched his career-best third hit with a 103.4 mph single up the middle against Pirates closer Aroldis Chapman, who allowed the Marlins to bring the potential go-ahead run to the plate upon entering with a three-run lead.

“You find that trust, that confidence every day in the hitting cages, the routine, that work,” Pereda said. “But sometimes you lose it a little bit in different at-bats and sometimes it will come back. But you’ve got to keep grinding and make the best of it and find success.”

Of course, the catching position is a multifaceted one beyond just bat and glove. It’s also in how you work with the pitchers on the mound. Adam Oller had only worked with Pereda once, in his first outing with Triple-A Jacksonville. On Tuesday, Oller put the blame on his command for a start in which he allowed six runs in five innings, but said working with Pereda went well.

“For him to not know anything about me other than what he’s seen watching film and stuff like that, I thought he did a good job,” Oller said. “There were definitely some times where we weren’t really on the same page, but that’s to be expected from somebody catching you for the first time. All in all, I thought he did a great job.”

It’s unclear how much playing time Pereda will see over the final three weeks of the season, but manager Skip Schumaker has given him some looks. And Schumaker said he’s not giving Pereda “layups” with respect to the opponent; his most recent start came against Zack Wheeler and the Phillies.

The role of the backup catcher is a tough one. It could be three, four, five days before you see a start, in some cases longer. But the Marlins see the work Pereda is putting in to becoming a Major League catcher who can produce like he did on Tuesday.

“It’s really hard. The offensive side is one thing, and the defensive side is another,” Schumaker said. “So there’s some stuff with the game planning that he’s new to that he has to understand and be prepared for, and I think he’s getting there.”