How Many All-Stars For Kansas City Royals?
By Tom Fontana
Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
The most obvious choice is Salvador Perez. If he’s not the game’s best catcher, he’s certainly the American League’s best. He’s going to be a perennial All Star, and this year he’s having by far the best year of his short career, leading the Kansas City Royals in home runs with 10. But guys like Matt Wieters, Derek Norris and A.J. Pierzynski all have more fan votes than Perez.
But he will make the team because John Farrell isn’t as dumb as the fans. With Wieters out for the season with an elbow injury, Perez should be the obvious choice as the starter, and even if Wieters wasn’t hurt, the same would likely be true. Perez, for better or worse, has caught more innings this season than any other catcher in baseball. He leads all American League catchers in doubles with 17 and is nearly a full win ahead all other catchers in WAR with 2.7.
He makes things look so easy defensively that we don’t realize how good he truly is until the rare occasion when Brett Hayes gets the call behind the plate. Hayes is considered a solid defensive catcher, but the gap between the two couldn’t be wider. And the gap isn’t any smaller between Perez and the other catchers in the American League.
As a Kansas City Royals fan, it would be nice to see Perez get a few days off in the middle of the summer, because we know Ned Yost isn’t likely to give him much rest. But Perez will be at Target Field for his second All-Star game.
Perez’s odds: 2/7