Jhonny Pereda Feels at Home With Mariners, Helping Provide Depth at Catcher
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - When Cal Raleigh was temporarily placed on the shelf by the Seattle Mariners with what was originally described as “general soreness,” later updated to “right side soreness,” an opportunity opened up for veteran catcher Jhonny Pereda. Behind Raleigh and Mitch Garver, Pereda is the only other catcher on the Mariners 40-man roster, acquired in late January from the Minnesota Twins for cash considerations. While it’s not an ideal situation for Seattle, considering the importance of Raleigh to the team’s day-to-day success, it provides an opportunity for Pereda, who has hit well with AAA Tacoma to begin the 2026 campaign.
While he hasn’t been able to carve out a steady role at the major league level, spending time with the Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants, Cincinnati Reds, Miami Marlins, Athletics, and Minnesota Twins over the course of his big league career, Pereda has had solid moments, particularly last season in his brief time with the Minnesota Twins at the major league level.
Seattle Mariners catcher Jhonny Pereda during the teams March 14th, 2026 Spring Training game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. (Photos by Eric Hiller for Circling Seattle Sports)
Pereda generated 0.4 bWAR in just eleven games with the Twins, playing a role with Minnesota in the latter part of the season after their fire sale at the trade deadline. He posted a slash line of .345/.387/.483, some positivity for what was a rough latter half of the season for the Twins.
“We liked what we saw in Spring Training. Jhonny does a great job, just his attention since he’s been here, he’s been attached to [Pete Woodworth]’s hip, talking about pitch selection and going over things during games. I think what we’ve seen from him in terms of throwing ability is that he’s got a great arm, puts an end to the running game. He’s ready to go, and Jhonny swings the bat.”
While that success didn’t particularly carry over into Spring Training this season, the Mariners liked how Pereda’s bat looked, and he essentially took over as the third catcher on the roster's organizational depth chart once Harry Ford was traded this offseason for José A. Ferrer. The numbers didn’t pop in Spring Training, but have picked up in AAA as mentioned, and Pereda credits that to a more aggressive approach at the plate.
“I think just my approach, early in the count. When I was practicing in Spring Training, I told one of the hitting coaches that I wanted to be more aggressive early in the count. Didn’t want to give up easy strikes, first pitches for strikes. In the past, I used to take a lot of those, but now I’m more aggressive.”
Even after being recalled by the Mariners back on May 2nd, Pereda leads qualified Rainiers hitters in batting average, ranks second in on-base percentage and on-base plus slugging, third in slugging and batting average, fourth in hits and runs, while touting the second-lowest strikeout rate on the Tacoma roster. Coming into this season, Pereda carried a career .296 average and a .811 OPS at the AAA level, showing that he’s more than capable of handling the duties at that level.
“He’s got some pop in the bat, and finding barrels is what it’s all about. I thought in his first game here, he found the barrel a couple of times, even with nothing to show for it. ”
Going back to the mention of Pereda speaking about working with Mariners hitting coaches, he has a fun tie-in with Seattle hitting coach and MLB Hall of Famer Edgar Martinez. During Jhonny’s time with the Cubs, he spent some time with Edgar’s cousin, Carmelo Martinez, who was a coach in the Cubs organization from 1999 to 2003, 2006, and 2015-2019. Carmelo played in the major leagues from 1983 to 1991, spending most of his time with the San Diego Padres organization, with stints with the Cubs, Phillies, Pirates, Royals, and Reds.
“It’s a blessing to have him as a hitting coach. It’s crazy being around him, knowing what he did in the big leagues; it’s a very big blessing for us. I had a chance to be coached by his cousin [Carmelo], who was my manager; I know him very well.”
Seattle Mariners catcher Jhonny Pereda during the teams game against the Kansas City Royals on May 3rd, 2026, at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Bryant Garduque for Circling Seattle Sports)
Slotting into a team that has high aspirations this season isn’t always ideal for a soft landing, especially at a difficult position like catcher. While the Mariners won’t lean on Pereda to take the bulk of the games behind the dish while Raleigh works his way back from injury, Seattle will get some run out of him to ensure they don’t put too much strain on Mitch Garver’s body.
While there’s a lot to get to know, like what to know about working with the current pitching staff and what responsibilities he’ll take over when he’s catching, Pereda shared that the other catches in the clubhouse have made him feel like family already.
“The catchers and the pitchers here have made me feel like family right away. Our pitchers are great. This is a new organization for me, and we work differently here than at others I’ve been at, but I like how it works here.”
Part of the welcoming party for Pereda featured veteran starting pitcher Luis Castillo, for whom Jhonny was behind the plate on Sunday, May 3rd, which would be his Mariners debut. Castillo and fellow Venezuelan Eduard Bazardo were part of the welcoming committee around Pereda’s locker when he arrived at T-Mobile Park. The connection with Castillo began in the spring, when Pereda caught Luis a bit, and the two shared plenty of dialogue about how they both like to work. The foundation of familiarity had been laid before the two were the battery against the Royals.
“That was a crazy day, but Luis was great. I caught him during Spring Training, and we talked a lot. I talked to him a lot about how he likes to work, and Sunday, when I saw he was pitching, it was comforting.”
Adding to the learning curve for Pereda as he acclimates to the Mariners clubhouse, he’d only played one career game at T-Mobile Park before his recall a few days ago. Early last season with the Athletics, Jhonny went 0-3 with two strikeouts on March 30th, facing off against now-teammate Bryan Woo. Considering he’s only played one game here and free time is limited during an MLB season, Pereda doesn’t have much knowledge about Seattle outside of its baseball legends.
The men he saw around the ballpark the weekend of Randy Johnson’s number retirement ceremony, having been recalled by the Mariners the night of that ceremony, were legends he looked up to and watched as he took steps towards his big league journey.
“Growing up playing baseball, I saw Ichiro growing up, Félix Hernández, Ken Griffey Jr., and all those players... It’s amazing to see Ichi around all the time.”
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