Geraldo Perdomo is not looking much like the player who finished fourth in National League MVP voting at the end of 2025, and the Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop got a blunt check-in from Torey Lovullo on a day off two games ago. Perdomo, who has opened the 2026 season hitting.233/.341/.342, was pulled aside for a heart-to-heart after a handful of mistakes nearly derailed a win over the Blue Jays.
Lovullo said he called Perdomo in on the off day and the two sat together for five, seven, 10 or 15 minutes, enough time to hammer out a few things that had been on the infielder’s mind. The manager said Perdomo “would be the first one to tell you” it has been a tough start and that he is “grinding a little bit.”
“The game’s not easy,” Lovullo said. “He sometimes makes it look so easy that we think he can just put it in automatic and it’s gonna happen every pitch, every game.”
That message carried extra weight because it came after a season in which Perdomo looked like one of the best all-around players in the league. He posted a career-best.851 OPS with 20 home runs in 2025, then finished fourth in National League MVP voting. This year, though, the production and the execution have both backed up, and Lovullo has been trying to explain exactly why.
“I broke it down for him,” Lovullo said. “I said, ‘This is what happens. This is why you are not trending in a positive direction. When you make these plays like this, it hits you hard. It’s very negative. When you make plays like this, it’s very positive.’ So he now understands exactly what he’s trying to get to.”
The tension around Perdomo’s start is not limited to the box score. Lovullo previously said the shortstop had “a little bit of tilt” to his swing during games, adding that his backside might be dropping as he tries to create a little loft and backspin, which is slowing down his swing. He also said Perdomo has been falling behind in counts by fouling off pitches he should be driving.
For the Diamondbacks, the concern is obvious. Perdomo is one of the lineup’s most important players, but his uneven offense and the mistakes that forced an off day have left the club trying to reset a key piece before the season gets away from him. The next part is simple: Perdomo has to turn the conversation into cleaner at-bats and cleaner innings, because Arizona needs the version of him that looked automatic a year ago.