The Red Sox continued adding more depth on Wednesday with the signing of Roberto Perez.

The veteran catcher has a minor league contract with an invite to Major League camp. Should he make the big-league roster, he’ll earn a $1.4 million base salary.

Just 10 days away from his 35th birthday, Perez has been around for quite some time. The Puerto Rico native was first selected out of high school by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 29th round of the ’06 draft, but opted not to sign. Cleveland took him in the 33rd round two summers later, and he debuted with them in July ’14. He spent the first eight seasons of his big-league career in Cleveland, then played 21 games for Pittsburgh in ’22.

Perez was also a Red Sox target last offseason, but chose the San Francisco Giants instead. After making the team out of spring training, he played five games before needing season-ending shoulder surgery in early April.

Save for an unexpected 24-homer season in ’19, the catcher has never been a strong offensive contributor; he’s a career .207 average, .655 OPS hitter. He can, however, get on base, and owns a 10.9% walk rate over his 10 years in the Majors.

Above all, Perez has been an excellent defender. Among active players, he ranks first in caught-stealing percentage and 28th in defensive Wins Above Replacement. He won Wilson’s MLB Defensive Player of the Year in ’19 and back-to-back Gold Gloves with Cleveland in ’19 and ’20.

Connor Wong was Boston’s primary catcher this season, starting 105 games to Reese McGuire’s 51, and both are currently slated to be Boston’s tandem again next season. Pérez will likely have have a similar role to Jorge Alfaro, who had two stints with the Red Sox in ’23, but spent the vast majority of his time in the organization in Triple-A Worcester. Coincidentally, Alfaro and the Chicago Cubs came to agreement on Wednesday evening, also for a minor-league deal with an invite to spring training.

The addition of Perez also suggests that the Red Sox are no longer interested in Martín Maldonado, longtime Houston Astros catcher who is currently a free agent and close with Alex Cora.