Royals star Salvador Perez’s milestone hit may have bolstered Hall of Fame chances
There were a couple of milestone hits Sunday in the Royals’ 10-1 thrashing of the Rockies in Denver.
Rockies rookie Aaron Schunk picked up his first Major League Baseball hit. And Royals catchers Salvador Perez got No. 1,500 in his career.
Some fans may believe that a player reaching 1,500 career hits may not be mean much for a Hall of Fame résumé. But it was noteworthy for Perez, who a few hours later was chosen for his ninth All-Star Game.
As Josh Vernier of KCSP (610 AM) noted, Perez joined a shortlist of catchers with 1,500 hits, 260 home runs and nine All-Star selections. Each of the others to accomplish those feats is in the Hall of Fame: Yogi Berra, Johnny Bench, Ivan Rodriguez, Gary Carter, Carlton Fisk and Mike Piazza.
Does Perez have a shot at the Hall of Fame? A couple of MLB analysts weighed in recently.
The Athletic’s Jayson Stark looked at the Hall of Fame chances for nearly four dozen players. That included Perez.
“If he ever got elected, his 34.8 career WAR at this stage would be by far the fewest of any expansion-era Hall of Fame catcher,” Stark wrote. “But hold on. He’s about to make his ninth All-Star team, to go with five Gold Gloves and a home run title. Here’s the complete list of catchers we can say that about: Salvy and … Johnny Bench. Sounds like a viable candidate to me!”
Jon Morosi said a few weeks ago on the MLB Network that Perez is a slam-dunk Hall of Famer. Morosi explained why while talking about the Royals, who are having their best season since 2015 when they won the World Series.
“He’s a Hall of Famer for me without a doubt,” Morosi said. “Salvador Perez belongs in the Hall of Fame. When you think about the way that he has joined these two eras of winning for the Royals. That is a historically significant career. When you’re the MVP of the World Series as a catcher in 2015 and then nine years later, you’re still batting cleanup for the same franchise. He’s batting cleanup for basically all but a half a dozen games this entire season.”
Morosi shared a list of catchers who have 250 or more home runs and five Gold Glove Awards in Major League Baseball history: Rodriguez, Bench and Perez.
”You think about that (Royals) pitching staff, they’re not all throwing 105 miles an hour,” Morosi said. “It’s a staff that has gotten by with different philosophies of pitching and you’ve got Salvy behind the plate handling them all.”
