Roberto Perez to catch nine innings for first time since April

Cleveland Indians catcher Roberto Perez will continue his rehab with a full game behind the plate for the Columbus Clippers tonight. Perez has been working his way back from a broken thumb with rehab games over the past couple weeks, starting with the Arizona Rookie League and now at Triple-A.

Roberto took to Twitter to express his excitement about a full nine innings of baseball for the first time since April.

Excited that i get to catch 9 innings today.. Its been a while ⚾️⚾️ #cantwait #letsgo

— Roberto Perez (@robperez2015) July 16, 2016

The 27-year-old has been on the disabled list since he dove to stop a run at the plate on April 14 and broke this thumb. His rehab assignment began on July 3 with the Indians' Rookie League squad, and he has been playing just about every day since, albeit with a limited number of innings behind the plate. His most recent rehab appearance was a seven-inning night with the Clippers in which he went 1-for-2 with a double and a walk.

The Indians have the worst group of catchers in the American League by many metrics. The combination of Yan Gomes, Chris Gimenez and pre-injury Roberto Perez are last in FanGraphs WAR (-1.0), wRC+ (31), and every aspect of a slash line (.165/.214/.293). In fact, Yan Gomes is on pace to have the worst on-base percentage since 1911. It's been bad.

Last season, Perez played a part in 70 games for the Tribe, filling in for when Yan went down with a leg injury early in the season. In 226 plate appearances he slashed .228/.348/.402 with seven home runs and a 14.6 percent walk rate.

In a recent interview with Indians Baseball Insider, Roberto believes is a week or two away from returning to the Indians, but getting a full game's worth of time behind the plate is an encouraging move forward.