With the exception of when he couldn’t see, Royals star Perez has raked. Here’s why
Salvador Perez’s production has been absurd, even in a shortened season.
The Kansas City Royals’ star catcher missed the entire 2019 season due to Tommy John surgery. Like the rest of Major League Baseball, he dealt with the uncertainty of the pandemic delay this spring.
When camp started again in July, Perez had another setback in the form of a COVID-19 infection. Then, less than a month into the season, blurred vision forced him into the injured list for 20 games.
Perez, a fan favorite and franchise cornerstone who turned 30 in May, has continued to bounce back from injury, illness and interruptions this year to show he’s still arguably the most dangerous hitter in the club’s lineup.
In eight games since he returned from literally not being able to see the baseball, Perez has gone 17 for 34 at the plate with four home, runs, five doubles, 12 RBIs and eight runs scored. His on-base percentage during that stretch was .514 and he slugged 1.000.
“It’s very difficult to do,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said of Perez’s ability to jump back in and perform at such a high level. “It’s amazing when you watch most guys and how hard it is to get back to that game-speed timing and being able to make the adjustments while also doing enough work to stay sharp on the defensive side.
“He has, to me, been shining on both sides. It’s been impressive to watch. He’s disciplined about how he goes about his work. He’s very intentional about what he needs to do defensively and offensively to stay sharp.”
A five-time Gold Glove Award winner and two-time Silver Slugger Award recipient, Perez has shown no obvious ill effects from missing an entire season in his prime.
He won’t quality for the batting-title chase because of his 20 missed games this summer, but Perez entered the final week of the regular season with an OPS of 1.025 and a draw-dropping slash line of .361/.378/.648 in 30 games.
And despite having missed those 20 games, he’s tied for the second-most home runs (eight) and doubles (11) on the team. He also ranks third in RBIs (24).
During the offseason in Miami, Perez worked a lot with Royals special assignment hitting coach Mike Tosar. During the pandemic, he also regularly went to Tosar’s home for hitting workouts. And he had catching workouts with bench coach Pedro Grifol.
One change that Tosar convinced Perez to make? Maintaining a consistent pre-game schedule throughout the season in order to stay consistent in games.
“Have a routine no matter what — doing good, doing bad, you have to have a routine,” Perez said. “Do the same thing every day. I think that’s one of the things that helped me this year.”
As remarkable as it seems, Perez had enjoyed an elite level of success at the plate in the past without sticking to a strict pre-game regimen. But he came to the conclusion that he needed to make that adjustment to his daily preparation.
“You’ve got to control the things you can control,” Perez said.
Through the offseason as well as during the season, Perez and Royals hitting coach Terry Bradshaw repeatedly discussed the importance of getting into favorable situations and knowing how he want to attack in certain counts.
“Have an idea, have a plan from the beginning,” Perez said. “Start with a plan. I know things are going to change during the game, but I think it’s one of the things I’m doing really good right now.”
Perez has a well-earned reputation as a free swinger. That hasn’t disappeared in one shortened season. His strikeout percentage (18.9 percent) remains in a similar range to the past three seasons (19.0 to 21.8 percent). His walk rate (2.4 percent) is at its lowest since 2015.
The quality of his contact when he puts the ball in play has improved.
The fact that he has a batting average on balls in play (BABIP) of .396, well above any of his full seasons in the majors, may be viewed as a sign of a fluky phenomenon where balls are finding holes by chance.
However, MLB Statcast data shows that Perez ranks among the top 10 in the majors in sweet-spot percentage — hitting the ball with a launch angle between eight and 32 degrees — with a 43.4 percent clip entering Monday (up from 35.4 percent last season). Only one catcher in the majors, Atlanta’s Travis d’Arnuad, ranks ahead of him in that category (43.9 percent).
Among catchers, Perez ranks among the top five in hard-hit rate (fifth, 44.4 percent), average exit velocity (fifth, 90.7 mph) and barrel percentage (fourth, 12.1 percent).
“I’m just trying to be on time, try not to swing at bad pitches, try to get ahead of the count,” Perez said. “I’m still aggressive, I just try to swing at good pitches.”
The Royals have Perez, the 2015 World Series MVP, under contract through 2021. He’s slated to become a free agent in 2022 at age 32.
This story was originally published September 21, 2020 at 1:31 PM.
