Kansas City Royals: Five First Half MVP Candidates

Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez (13) – Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

• bWAR: 1.8
• fWAR: 1.2
• Offense: .262/.274/.448; 12 doubles, 14 home runs, 1 SB
• Defense: Platinum

While we’re pretty sure Salvador Perez is a human, 6-foot 3-inch, 240-pound men don’t normally show up and play a Gold Glove-caliber catcher…every…single…day, so we’re not going to write-off any other possibilities. He’s missed five games this season (somehow the Royals are 4-1 in those contests) and shows few signs of fatigue. His precocious ability to handle a pitching staff, along with his unusual physical tools, set him apart entirely from the rest of the league’s catchers.

Offensively, he’s…umm…unique. He swings at everything and doesn’t walk, which is usually a great recipe for failure, but Perez also doesn’t strikeout (much). There’s some legitimate concern here, though, as his 14% K-rate is a career high, and his Walk-rate is a career low. Whatever, though, worrying about Salvy in any capacity just seems silly.

We know when Perez goes to the plate he’s up there to swing it. In 290 at-bats, Perez has walked five times. That’s about 1.7% of the time. Even Alcides Escobar has walked 14 times.

Still, Perez has struck out only 43 times in 77 games, so it’s clear he can handle the bat. It’s not an approach you would teach a young player, but Salvy also doesn’t really fit the mold in anything he does.

Perez might be the most irreplaceable piece on the Royals roster. He’s offense, defense, pitch calling, energy, attitude, awareness. Let’s be honest, he da real MVP.

Grade: 9 out of 10

Next: Sugar Man