Royals' Salvador Perez: Swats eighth homer in loss
Rotowire
Perez went 3-for-4 with a solo home run in Wednesday's 4-3 loss to the Red Sox.
Perez got the scoring started by taking lefty Connelly Early deep on a 94 mph fastball in the bottom of the first inning. He later singled in the sixth and eighth innings, giving Perez his third three-hit game of the season. After seeing his average dip below the Mendoza Line with an 0-for-5 start to the series against the Red Sox, Perez is now slashing .211/.259/.368 with eight home runs, 21 RBI, 18 runs scored and a 9:42 BB:K across 201 plate appearances this season. After being in the 91st percentile with a 14.8 percent barrel rate last season, Perez is barreling just 8.5 percent of his batted balls in 2026. He's also experienced sharp declines in his hard-hit rate and bat speed at 36 years old.
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Royals' Salvador Perez: Productive in win
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Perez went 2-for-2 with a solo home run, a walk and a second RBI in Sunday's 2-0 win over the Cardinals.
Perez drove in the opening run with a first-inning sacrifice fly before adding a bit more oomph to hit a solo shot in the fourth. The catcher has two homers among seven hits over his last six games, a span in which he's batting .292 with four strikeouts. He's back above the Mendoza Line now, batting .205 with a .595 OPS, seven homers, 20 RBI, 17 runs scored and five doubles over 45 contests.
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Royals' Salvador Perez: Blasts sixth homer
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Perez went 2-for-5 with a solo home run in Tuesday's 6-5 loss to the White Sox.
Perez crushed an outside sinker from Erick Fedde over the right-field fence for a solo homer to give the Royals an early 2-0 lead in the first frame, though Kansas City was unable to hold on in a disappointing defeat. The veteran backstop has long staved off Father Time, but he has shown notable decline offensively so far in 2026. Through 40 games, the 36-year-old is slashing .197/.238/.344 with six homers, five doubles, 18 RBI and 15 runs. Tuesday snapped a four-game hitless streak for Perez, who will look to build on the performance and heat up at the plate moving forward.
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Royals' Salvador Perez: Receiving evening off
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Perez is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Tigers.
Perez hasn't started a game behind the plate since May 1 while he's been managing a sore hip, but he's remained in the everyday lineup at designated hitter or first base. He doesn't seem to be dealing with any sort of setback, but Perez will get a break for the series finale after going hitless in 13 at-bats over his last four starts. Carter Jensen will handle DH duties Sunday.
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Royals' Salvador Perez: Limited to DH due to sore hip
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Perez remains limited to designated-hitter duty due to hip soreness, Jaylon T. Thompson of The Kansas City Star reports.
The hip issue first popped up for Perez a few weeks ago. Just three of his last 15 starts have come at catcher, and he's making a sixth straight start at DH on Thursday. Royals manager Matt Quatraro indicated Thursday that Perez is unlikely to return to catching this weekend. Carter Jensen will continue to start behind the plate while Perez recuperates.
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Royals' Salvador Perez: Tallies fifth homer Tuesday
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Perez went 2-for-5 with a solo home run in Tuesday's win over the Athletics.
Perez opened the scoring for the Royals with a solo blast off Hogan Harris in the sixth inning to tie the game at one apiece. After a slow start to the season, the veteran backstop has begun to heat up, going 6-for-15 (.400) with two homers and four RBI across his past three appearances. Overall, Perez owns a .196 batting average and .586 OPS with five homers, three doubles, 10 RBI and 10 runs through 28 games.
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Royals' Salvador Perez: Launches homer Saturday
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Perez went 3-for-5 with a home run, an additional RBI and an additional run scored in Saturday's win over the Angels.
Perez launched his fourth homer of the season with a solo shot to left field in the bottom of the second inning and later plated a run with an RBI single as he posted his second three-hit game of the year. Despite Saturday's strong outing, the backstop continues to have an underwhelming season with a .186 average and .555 OPS through 108 plate appearances.
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Royals' Salvador Perez: Could see more DH time
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Royals manager Matt Quatraro said prior to Sunday's game that Perez could see more starts at designated hitter over the next few days as the veteran backstop has been dealing with a sore hip, Joel Goldberg of Bally Sports Kansas City reports.
Perez will indeed be in the lineup at DH on Sunday, one day after he received his first day off of the season in what Quatraro termed a "mental breather." Though Perez disagreed on social media Saturday that he needed a break, his numbers back up the skipper. Over 81 plate appearances, the 36-year-old has a .517 OPS, which would be the lowest mark of his career by 175 points.
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Royals' Elias Diaz: Moves up to majors
Rotowire
The Royals selected Diaz's contract from Triple-A Omaha on Sunday.
The 34-year-old posted a mediocre .536 OPS over 35 plate appearances at Omaha, but he'll join the big club nonetheless to provide Kansas City with a third option behind the plate. With Carter Jensen receiving an afternoon off and Salvador Perez serving as the designated hitter in Sunday's game against the Yankees, Diaz will enter the starting nine right away at catcher and as the No. 9 hitter.
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Royals' Carter Jensen: Receiving rest Sunday
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Jensen is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Yankees.
After starting eight straight games at either catcher or designated hitter and going 7-for-27 (.259) with two home runs, six RBI and three runs, Jensen will get a breather. Salvador Perez will return to the lineup Sunday as Kansas City's DH, while newly promoted Elias Diaz makes his first start for the Royals behind the plate.
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Royals' Salvador Perez: Idle Saturday
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Perez isn't in the lineup for Saturday's game against the Yankees.
Perez will catch a breather Saturday after going 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts in Friday's series opener. Carter Jensen will handle catching duties for the Royals instead while Isaac Collins starts as the DH and Lane Thomas patrols left field.
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Royals' Salvador Perez: Goes deep vs. Tigers
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Perez went 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBI in Thursday's 10-9 loss to the Tigers.
The veteran catcher delivered in a big way, blasting a three-run homer in the seventh inning off Tyler Holton to extend Kansas City's lead. The blast was Perez's third of the season and ended up being a much-needed offensive breakout. Entering Thursday, Perez was slashing .149/.208/.269 with two homers, two rbi and 4:13 BB:K across 72 plate appearances, making this performance an encouraging sign for the 35-year-old.
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Royals' Salvador Perez: Smacks solo homer in nightcap
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Perez went 1-for-2 with a solo home run, two walks and an additional run scored in Saturday's Game 2 win over Milwaukee.
The homer was Perez's second of the young season, and he also drew a season-high two walks. He also started Game 1 and went 0-for-4 with a strikeout. The veteran backstop has hit safely in six of his first eight games, though he's without any multi-hit efforts to this point. Perez has hit cleanup in each of Kansas City's first eight contests, so he should have plenty of RBI chances moving ahead.
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Royals' Salvador Perez: Homers in return from WBC
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Perez started at designated hitter and went 1-for-3 with a two-run home run in Friday's Cactus League loss to the Giants.
Perez opened the scoring, blasting an Adrian Houser sinker to the opposite field for a two-run homer in the first inning. Friday marked the veteran backstop's first Cactus League appearance since winning the World Baseball Classic with Venezuela, though he went just 4-for-22 with an RBI across five WBC games. Coming off a 2025 campaign in which he slashed .236/.284/.446 with 35 doubles, 30 homers and 100 RBI in 155 contests, Perez will have to battle Father Time entering his age-36 season, though there's no question his power remains intact. With Carter Jensen in the fold and set for his first full big-league season, Perez figures to split time between catcher and designated hitter, with occasional starts at first base also a possibility.
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Royals' Salvador Perez: Looks healthy for spring
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Perez (thumb) took live batting practice during Monday's full-squad workout, Anne Rogers of MLB.com reports.
Perez had previously injured his thumb during the offseason while playing in the Venezuelan Winter League, but he looks to have made a full recovery prior to reporting to camp last week. The 35-year-old Perez heads into the upcoming campaign with considerable tread on his tires after logging at least 140 starts in four of the past five seasons. However, the Royals made more of an effort to keep him fresh last season by limiting him to 89 starts at catcher, with his other 66 coming at either designated hitter or first base. With young catcher Carter Jensen expected get a full-time look in the majors in 2026, the Royals should be able to continue managing Perez's workload behind the dish while still keeping his bat in the lineup on a near-everyday basis.
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Royals' Salvador Perez: Injures thumb in winter ball
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Perez suffered a left thumb injury Sunday while playing in the Venezuelan Winter League, Al Son de la LVBP reports.
Perez posted a video on Instagram of himself working out and he didn't seem to be overly affected by the injury, so it seems to be a day-to-day situation that shouldn't affect his availability for spring training. The 35-year-old Perez has gone 6-for-29 with two home runs for Leones del Caracas in winter ball thus far.
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Royals' Salvador Perez: Reaches 100-RBI mark
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Perez went 1-for-4 with a three-run double in Thursday's 9-4 win over the Angels.
Perez's bases-clearing double in the ninth inning gave the Royals some extra breathing room. The knock was enough to give him 100 RBI on the year, a mark he's reached in three of the last five seasons. The catcher has plated nearly one-fifth of his total over his last 11 games, supplying 19 RBI in that span. He's one of 14 players to reach 100 RBI this season through Thursday's action. Perez has added a .241/.286/.454 slash line, 30 home runs, 54 runs scored and 35 doubles across 152 contests.
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Royals' Salvador Perez: Socks 29th homer
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Perez went 1-for-2 with a three-run home run and two walks in Wednesday's 7-5 win over the Mariners.
Perez is now up to 29 long balls and 92 RBI this year, putting him on the precipice of his first 30-homer campaign since 2021 and the second of his career. The veteran backstop has six big flies in September and four in his past four games. Over his last 57 at-bats, Perez is batting just .211 but is slugging .561 with 15 RBI as he also pushes for the third 100-RBI season of his career.
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Royals' Salvador Perez: Reaches big milestones in loss
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Perez went 2-for-4 with two home runs and three RBI in Saturday's 8-6 loss to the Phillies.
The future Hall of Famer helped give the Royals an early 4-2 lead by taking Taijuan Walker deep twice in the first three innings. It was Perez's fourth multi-homer performance of the year, and the second blast not only gave him 27 home runs on the season, it lifted him to 300 HR for his career, as well as 1,000 career RBI. The 35-year-old Perez has been fading overall in September, however, batting just .178 (8-for-45) through 12 games this month with a 0:9 BB:K, although six of those eight hits (two doubles and four homers) have gone for extra bases.
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Royals' Salvador Perez: Hits 25th homer in rout
Rotowire
Perez went 2-for-4 with a three-run home run in Saturday's 11-2 win over the Twins.
Perez gave the Royals an early 4-0 lead with a 415-foot blast in the first inning before adding a single in the second. The veteran backstop has now homered in three of his past nine games, though he's gone just 6-for-33 during that stretch. On the season, he's slashing .240/.283/.447 with 25 home runs, 81 RBI and 48 runs scored across 557 plate appearances.
