Kansas City Royals: Salvador Perez named face of Royals franchise

The Kansas City Royals have a lot of lovable players on their team, but Sports Illustrated has named catcher Salvador Perez as the face of the franchise. This comes as a shock to no one.

When people think of Kansas City Royals baseball, two guys probably come to mind. Those would be Salvador Perez and Eric Hosmer.

Both guys were “Raised Royal”, coming up in the minor leagues and working their way up to the big leagues. Perez really made himself a well-known figure in the major leagues when he started to show his fun side by dumping ice cold buckets of water on players who made an impact play. This has become known as the “Salvy splash”.

Sports Illustrated recently put out their list of franchise faces for each MLB team and felt that Salvy was the face of the Kansas City Royals. Here’s what Jay Jaffe of Sports Illustrated said on his opinion,

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"Perez, who, it should be pointed out, led all major league players in last year’s All-Star voting. His five-year, $7 million deal signed in 2012 paid big enough dividends that nobody blinked when the team extended him for another five (through 2021) at $52.5 million. Though hardly an elite hitter, Perez’s durability, defense, power and pitcher handling have put him at the center of the Kansas City’s turnaround—and its future."

The article goes on to point out that the fans likely consider Hosmer as the face of the team, but that the “baseball people” would say Perez. I think that’s a fair statement, as Hosmer is the more vocal guy for the Royals.

With Hosmer’s free agency looming this offseason, or with him potentially being traded if the Royals can’t get into contention when crunch time arrives, him being the face of the organization might not make as much sense as it does with Perez. Teams try to keep their “franchise players” on the roster and I don’t see Eric Hosmer being in Kansas City past the 2017 season.

Now let’s talk about why Salvador Perez is the guy in Kansas City. He’s arguably the best catcher in all of Major League Baseball, being named to four All-Star games, winning four Gold Gloves, earning a Silver Slugger Award, and getting the nod as World Series MVP in 2015.

Perez is going to be a member of the KC Royals for a long time and the same can’t be said for Eric Hosmer. When Perez earned his five-year extension, no one complained. People want Salvy to be a Royal for his entire career and that’s the definition of someone who truly is the face of the franchise.

What do you think, Royals fans? Would you agree that Salvador Perez is the face of the Kansas City Royals or would you say that it’s Eric Hosmer or someone else?

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