How Kansas City Royals catcher Sal Perez snapped out of his recent slump at the plate
Salvador Perez played the role of a titan all last season for the Kansas City Royals. Instead of holding up the heavens on his broad shoulders as if he were Atlas from Greek mythology, the star catcher with four Silver Slugger awards shouldered the team’s offensive burden.
But in the early stages of this season, Perez let the desire to be the team’s security blanket affect his at-bats and ultimately put him in an offensive funk.
Perez broke out of his slump on Sunday with a total of four hits in the Royals’ doubleheader split against the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards.
He went 4 for 9 with an RBI, a double and a run scored between the two games. He didn’t strike out in his nine plate appearances.
“Take what the other team gives to me,” Perez said of his approach at the plate. “They give me a walk, take a walk. They give me base hit the other way, like they did today, just take it.
“I’m not going to hit a grand slam every day or every at-bat. I sometimes try to do something that I don’t have control [over]. I’ve just got to do my part, let my team help me.”
Heading into Sunday’s doubleheader, Perez had gone 2 for 38 with 17 strikeouts, one double, one RBI and one run scored in his previous nine games from April 26 through May 4. His batting average (0.53), on-base percentage (.077) and slugging percentage (.079) were all below .100 during that stretch.
“I didn’t think it’s going to stay the other way all season,” Perez quipped when asked about his four hits on Sunday. “It’s part of this game. That’s why it’s fun. It’s good that we’ve got opportunities everyday. We’ve just need to make adjustments and try to take the adjustments pretty quick and go to the next page, try to do my thing, try to help my team to win.”
Perez putting pressure on himself
As the club’s highest-paid player, the most senior member of their everyday position players and the World Series MVP of the club’s magical run in 2015, Perez sees it as his job to deliver when the Royals are struggling.
They certainly had floundered in the first month of the season. The Royals went into Sunday with the second-worst scoring offense in the majors by runs per game (3.04).
Their inability to convert scoring opportunities has been a bit of a theme so far this season. Through Sunday’s games, they’ve batted .202 with runners in scoring position. That’s the fourth-worst in the majors.
Their team on-base plus slugging percentage (.559) ranked ahead of only the Boston Red Sox.
“Sometimes when I see guys in scoring position, it’s kind of like okay it’s part of my job to bring them in,” Perez said. “That’s when we get beat. They don’t throw me strikes. I try to chase some pitches out of the strike zone. Things like that. I’ve just got to be more patient.”
A season of clutch performances
Last season, Perez didn’t break nor buckle under the pressure of carrying the bulk of his team’s offensive load. It was uncanny the way he almost always seemed to come up with big hits in crucial moments.
Perez had several signature moments that drove home his immense impact.
There was his two-day assault on the Toronto Blue Jays that included a walk-off home run in the second game of a doubleheader on April 17. Then he hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh inning on April 18, and became the first Royals player to hit a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning or later in consecutive games, and the first in the majors to do so since Baltimore’s Chris Davis on September 22-23, 2019.
Perez followed that up with a walk-off RBI single against the Tampa Bay Rays on April 21, his third go-ahead run in the seventh inning or later in a five-game span.
Another awe-inspiring stretch came from August 25-29, when Perez hit home runs in five consecutive games (tied a franchise record set by Mike Sweeney in 2002) and hit grand slams in back-to-back games.
His clutch exploits were more than anecdotal. He tied for third in the majors with 29 go-ahead RBIs, and his 15 game-winning RBI were the most by a Royal since Eric Hosmer (16) in 2016.
Of his MLB-leading 121 RBIs and his 48 home runs (tied for the MLB lead) last season, Perez recorded 80 RBIs and 33 homers when the score was within two runs one way or the other.
Of course, that sort of production can be a double-edged sword.
“He just puts so much pressure on himself,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “He feels like he’s responsible for carrying this whole offense, which isn’t the case. But he takes a lot of pride in coming up with those big situations, and he’s starting to do that.”
On Sunday, Matheny seemed encouraged by Perez’s at-bats, particularly his willingness to take base hits instead of going all-in for power.
“Salvy is in a better place right now,” Matheny said. “He’s just kind of trusting his hands, not doing too much. Then you add on as some of the confidence comes along.”
