Geraldo Perdomo: "Baseball Is My Wife", The Captain of the Infield is Back

Geraldo Perdomo made his successful return to the Arizona Diamondbacks lineup Tuesday night. The team showed rejuvenated energy with their Captain of the Infield back and their resident No.9 hitter turning the lineup over consistently. Perdomo is an emotional leader of the team and it showed last night.

Perdomo shared how excited the team was to welcome him back and how it felt to be back. "It feels amazing to be back. I couldn't take being gone for two months. They know the player I am. They know the person I am. I always support every day for the guys. I think the most important thing is they were excited to see me. They know how much energy I bring to the team. When we have energy, we play great."

He mentioned how he had never been injured in a season before and how disappointing it was. But, he was extremely thankful to the D-backs medical team for doing a great job with him. Despite the "tough challenge" of being away for two months, Perdomo "feels amazing."

"This is my Life, This is my Girlfriend, This is my Wife."

Manager Torey Lovullo spoke on what it means to get Perdomo back, "It's a good moment for him, a good moment for this organization...It's just nice to have Gerry, an All-Star, somebody who is a dependable bat...He's captain of the defense. I feel like he's an emotional leader of this team. He takes on the responsibility innately. I never asked him for it. I just think he's shown us the ability to do the right thing and say the right thing."

Lovullo says that Perdomo never shirked from the responsibility of being the "Starting shortstop of the Arizona Diamondbacks." Lovullo says that it's a work in progress and Perdomo is in a great spot, "I go directly to him if the second baseman or third baseman breaks down...He has really learned what is important to me as the manager of the team. He quarterbacks. He sees it through my eyes."

Perdomo shared his thoughts on how Lovullo has coached him up and managed him. "For me in the beginning, I didn't realize what he tried to do. It was hard in the beginning but he explained to me...and I just took to the role. I just tell him, whatever happens in the infield, just blame on me. I can be the leader in the infield and it's tough. I know I'm young but I'm very mature inside, I'm very mature in my mind."

Perdomo struggled while he was injured and unable to play baseball. As one can imagine, baseball is a massive part of his life.

"It's always tough especially when you know you're going to be at the field helping the team. I think it was tougher for me. I came here every day to cheer for my guys...This is my life. This is my girlfriend, this is my wife...I like to be on the field. I like to have fun. That's most important to me. It was weird for sure."

As one can see throughout watching games in person or on TV, Perdomo is highly interactive with his pitcher. He's always talking to them, especially in mound visits. He is a consummate teammate that supports non-stop and Jordan Montgomery took notice of it last night.

"Great having Domo back. Really good to be out there with him and working with me and talking with me. He's just such a great guy...Just like cheering for me. I don't know how to explain it. He talks to me between every inning...it's nice."

Last night, in the field, Perdomo had seven defensive plays. He turned a double play in the 5th inning. He had five assists. Lovullo noted how sharp he looked in the field, "Just having him back out there just patrolling that space at shortstop... Gerry just quarterbacks out there. He's very comfortable."

At the plate, Perdomo was his typical self, turning the lineup back over to the top of the order with him on base, setting the team up for success. He had an RBI single in the 2nd inning while walking in the fourth. In the 7th, he laid an excellent bunt down and got an infield single before later scoring. On the day, he was 2-4 with a run, RBI, and walk.

"Talk about readiness, it was a quality at-bat. Scored a big run for us... He offers so many different intangibles, the third baseman is back and he just drops down a bunt and gives us a baserunner."

Manager Torey Lovullo held a team party on Monday and Perdomo got to participate in the team's cornhole tournament. "It was fun. I lost in corn-hole. We went to the semifinals. I was glad I made it to the semifinals...It's been happening for the last couple of years...We're like a family. We spend more time here than our families. We're brothers. That's why I think it's cool when Torey does this kind of stuff every year. We have fun."

Perdomo is confident that the D-backs can do better and will do better with him being back with the team. "I think they have been doing okay. We can do better. You guys know we have a lot of injuries. A lot of starting pitchers, they hurt right now. It's tough when your organization building well but I think we're going to give it a try...Nothing is impossible. When they get back, we're going to be much better. We're okay right now."

When asked if he learned anything from being injured and away from the team he said, ""Not really. What I learned from this is it's important to be healthy. How much my team needs me. Not being able to do this, it was tough. But I'm glad I'm back and I think I'm going to do my best to help the team."