Take a peek at the National League WAR leaders through the first quarter (and change) of the 2025 season and see if anything stands out.
Just about every player on that list is a name you recognize, right? Pete Crow-Armstrong, Shohei Ohtani, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Corbin Carroll is a who's who of former top prospects with superstar pedigree, and they've earned their spots in the top five.
Then, Freddie Freeman, Logan Webb, Kyle Tucker, Pete Alonso, and Will Smith is an impressive quintet of All-Stars rounding out the top ten. But what about the player ranked fifth, tied with his Arizona Diamondbacks teammate Carroll at 2.6 fWAR?
Just how on earth did Geraldo Perdomo crash this list?
Geraldo Perdomo is National League's most unsung star
The Diamondbacks are facing a steep climb in baseball's toughest division. Despite sitting at 25-22, they're fourth in the NL West, though they only sit four games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers.
They've gotten some pretty good contributions this season, like Eugenio Suarez's four-homer game or Carroll's MVP-like performance through mid-May.
But it's Perdomo, the 25-year-old shortstop who is keeping top prospect Jordan Lawlar stapled to the bench, who has been the team's unsung hero in 2025.
Of course, Diamondbacks fans know Perdomo well, as he accrued 4.3 fWAR in 242 games between 2023-24. Now healthy, the slick-fielding shortstop is slashing .300/.401/.469 through his first 199 plate appearances this season.
Much of his offensive improvement this season can be tied to a rapidly maturing plate approach. His walk rate is four percent higher than his strikeout rate this season, and he ranks in the 93rd percentile or higher among qualified hitters in the following categories: chase rate, whiff rate, walk rate, strikeout rate, and squared-up rate.
He isn't hitting the ball super hard, nor is he swinging a particularly fast bat, but the switch hitter is proving that good methods lead to good results. He's practically never offering at bad pitches, and his incredibly selective approach has given him the opportunity to hit the ball with authority to all fields despite below-average marks in bat speed and barrel rate.
The batter's box isn't the only place where Perdomo is buttering his bread this season, though. He's been a standout in the field, accruing four outs above average (OAA), which ranks in the 95th percentile among all shortstops.
Simply put, the 25-year-old is quickly evolving in all phases of the game. He isn't distinctively great in any one aspect like some of his WAR counterparts — he doesn't quite have PCA's defense or speed, nor does he have Ohtani's power — but he's so well-rounded and so patient at the plate that cumulative metrics like WAR are arguably the best way to understand everything he brings to the Diamondbacks.
He's far from a household name, but don't be surprised if Geraldo Perdomo stakes his claim as one of the National League's best players by the time October rolls around.