Kansas City Royals: Salvador Perez injury means next man up at catcher

Kansas City Royals fans faced terrible news on Friday afternoon when it was announced that Salvador Perez injured his elbow. Perez is expected to get Tommy John surgery and will miss the entire 2019 season.

A few days ago, I wrote a post on how Kansas City Royals backup catcher Cam Gallagher would finally have a chance to prove himself in 2019. Little did I know that days later, Salvador Perez would be injured and Gallagher could potentially be the starter for the duration of 2019.

Gallagher was practically a shoe-in to be the backup this season, having been “blocked” by Drew Butera the past two seasons. He wasn’t going to be the long-term answer by any means, but he could be a cheap and serviceable backup behind the dish.

Obviously the catcher position is quite taxing, meaning Gallagher won’t play every single game. The Royals are going to have to find a second catcher for the entire 2019 season, as Perez is expected to get Tommy John surgery and will miss 2019 as a result. But who could that other option be?

If we’re looking at in-house options, it could end up being a battle between Meibrys Viloria and Nick Dini. Viloria spent some time in the majors last season, appearing in ten games with a .259 batting average in 29 plate appearances. He is just 22 years old, so he’s still got a lot of developing to do.

Dini hit pretty well in Double-A and Triple-A and is 25 years old. He’s hitting .250 in spring training at the moment and while he’s older than Viloria, that doesn’t mean he’s the better option.

The Royals could also opt to look to free agency for their second catcher, but it’s slim pickins there. They’ve already been linked to Martin Maldonado, who had a batting average of .225 between two teams last year. He did have a nice defensive campaign in 2017, as Jeffrey Flanagan notes in the tweet below.

Salvador Perez is out for the 2019 season and that’s absolutely devastating for this rebuilding team. No, the Royals aren’t going to compete for anything meaningful, but Perez is the leader of this team. He’s been an All-Star for six straight seasons and his absence won’t go unnoticed.

The Royals now have to make to try and make this situation easier, but they don’t have the experience at catcher on their roster. With that said, if I were the one making the decision, I’d still say go with a prospect.

The Royals aren’t going to make the playoffs and rebuilding means giving the younger guys a chance to show their worth. This is as good a time as any to give either Dini or Viloria some quality major league starts.

Who do you think the Kansas City Royals will go with as their second catcher for the 2019 season?