Veteran catcher Salvador Perez is the face of the Royals franchise, the final man standing from the membership’s 2015 World Collection group, and a nine-time All-Star with 5 Gold Gloves and 5 Silver Sluggers to his title. He’s one of the vital essential gamers within the group’s historical past, and in that sense the 35-year-old’s legacy is already safe. That impenetrable legacy does little to assist the Royals’ playoff odds in 2025, nonetheless, and in that regard Perez’s efficiency this 12 months has been missing. He’s hit simply .218/.254/.324 throughout 46 video games and 190 plate appearances thus far in 2025. That leaves him with a wRC+ of simply 57 and unfavourable WAR in accordance with each Baseball Reference and Fangraphs, and that’s regardless of a short scorching streak the place he collected 14 hits (together with eight doubles) in ten video games from April 24 to Could 6.
That kind of manufacturing simply gained’t minimize it for a Royals membership that has playoff aspirations. Their 27-22 report coming into play at present is sufficient to maintain them within the thick of the Wild Card race, however the current losses of each Seth Lugo and Cole Ragans from the entrance of their rotation will put extra strain than ever on the offense to attain runs. Perez is usually a key a part of that offense, and with different key cogs within the lineup like Vinnie Pasquantino and Jonathan India additionally struggling to provide early within the 12 months, Perez stays as essential as ever. Can he flip issues round, or do the Royals have a troublesome resolution to make this summer time a few franchise legend’s taking part in time in a pennant race?
A have a look at the underlying metrics offers loads of purpose for optimism. Essentially the most evident consider Perez’s downturn in efficiency is his anemic .106 ISO, which might put him on par with the 2024 performances of light-hitting, contact-oriented bats like Nico Hoerner and Nolan Schanuel. That’s a worrisome comparability to make contemplating Perez averaged 30 homers per season from 2021 to 2024, however the excellent news is that each one indicators level to this energy outage coming to an finish sooner fairly than later. Regardless of hitting simply two house runs thus far this 12 months, Perez’s 13.0% barrel price is definitely his finest since he smacked 48 bombs in 2021 and his 45.7% hard-hit price is best than it was in both of the previous two seasons. In actual fact, Perez’s barrel and hard-hit charges are virtually similar to these of Pete Alonso this 12 months.
That would make it simple to put in writing off Perez’s lackluster efficiency thus far this season as little greater than a fluke that ought to appropriate itself in due time, and the Royals are certainly hoping that’s the case. With that being stated, there are no less than some potential purple flags within the veteran’s efficiency which can be value maintaining a tally of. Whereas Perez has by no means been a very well-disciplined hitter, his 22.6% strikeout price and 4.2% stroll price are each trending within the improper course relative to his All-Star 2024 season. He’s additionally hitting barely extra balls on the bottom with fewer line drives relative to final 12 months. All 4 of these figures are effectively inside the bounds of Perez’s profession norms, nonetheless.
Maybe the most important purpose for concern concerning Perez is his age. As a 35-year-old catcher, it will hardly be a shock if he wasn’t as bodily able to sustaining peak efficiency throughout 162 video games as he was in his youthful days. Common reps at first base and DH ought to assist that considerably, but it surely’s nonetheless value noting that Perez has seen his offense take a flip for the more severe when the calendar flips to July in every of the previous two seasons. If that development of Perez slowing down because the 12 months progresses continues in 2025, he could also be working out of time to show his general season numbers round regardless of the stable underlying metrics thus far within the 12 months.
How do MLBTR readers assume the remainder of Perez’s 2025 marketing campaign will play out? Will he bounce again to round the place he’s been in recent times, because the underlying numbers recommend? Or has he struggled too deeply for too lengthy within the first half to make up for a possible slowdown after the All-Star break? Have your say within the ballot under:
