Royals players held a team meeting Tuesday — to celebrate Salvador Perez
Before every Royals game, there is about a one-hour period in which media members are allowed into the team clubhouse.
While the players aren’t always available, it’s still a good chance to do interviews in a relaxed atmosphere, as opposed to following a game.
But on Tuesday, the media was politely asked to leave the Royals clubhouse as the team called a meeting.
With the Royals on the fringes of the playoff race, one might have expected this was a time for the players to get on the same page and prepare for the task ahead.
But that wasn’t needed. The players already know what they must do to return to the postseason.
No, the players gathered to celebrate one of their own: captain Salvador Perez.
During the Royals’ series last weekend in Philadelphia, Perez hit his 300th career home run and collected his 1,000th RBI.
First baseman Vinnie Pasquantino talked about why it was important to honor Perez.
“That was to celebrate some really special accomplishments from our captain,” Pasquantino said. “So, OK, that wasn’t like, a ‘rah-rah, we need to get going’ meeting. That was a, hey, there’s a Hall of Fame player in this clubhouse. Let’s celebrate him, because he did something special. Didn’t get to celebrate this past weekend.”
Ahead of Tuesday night’s game, Royals general manager J.J. Picollo was asked about Perez’s milestone accomplishments.
“It’s really, really cool,” Picollo said. “I was hopeful that he’d get it done this season, so it doesn’t hang over his head going into the offseason. But for him to do it in back-to-back at-bats I think just speaks to who he is. No moment’s too big for him, and now, when you look at the elite company that he’s in, I think I saw something that he’s one of three catchers that have 300 home runs and also five Gold Gloves.
“And that’s with Johnny Bench and Pudge Rodriguez, they’re Hall of Famers, so I think that pretty much hits the nail on the head with Salvy being a Hall of Famer — when you think about what he’s done compared to other catchers in the Hall of Fame.”
Salvador Perez’s future
I asked Picollo if the team has had discussions about Perez’s contract. The Royals hold a team option for the 2026 season.
”Without saying too much there, I mean, obviously trading Freddy Fermin is a pretty good indication of where Salvy is going to be next year,” Picollo said. “So there’s some things we’ve got to work through. But, you know, I think it’s pretty safe to say Salvy is going to be a Royal in 2026.”
This story was originally published September 17, 2025 at 10:33 AM.
