Kansas City Royals: Imagine Salvador Perez in this lineup

The Kansas City Royals were dealt with a terrible blow prior to the 2019 season when it was announced that Salvador Perez would miss the entire year. Imagine how even more lethal the top half of the lineup would be with Perez in it.

While the Kansas City Royals aren’t exactly going places in 2019, their offense at times can be downright explosive. They put up eight runs on the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of the doubleheader and proved just how lethal they can be.

Even in Game 2, the Royals might not have put up many runs (they plated three), the top half of the order was still effective. After that game against St. Louis, here’s what the top half of the lineup is batting (so batters one through five):

Whit Merrifield – .292
Nicky Lopez – .303
Adalberto Mondesi – .287
Alex Gordon – .287
Hunter Dozier – .302

Jorge Soler was the sixth batter in this particular game and while his batting average isn’t high (.249), he’s a power hitter and gives fans hope whenever he’s at the plate.

Now, just imagine those six guys with a healthy Salvador Perez in there somewhere. Sure Perez is prone to struggle at times, but he’s one of the better offensive catchers in the league and would certainly provide more offensively than Martin Maldonado (.202/.307/.261 slash line after Wednesday’s doubleheader).

Royals fans knew what Maldonado was when he was brought in. He’s a great defensive catcher, but he’s not Salvador Perez. There’s a reason Perez is a six-time All-Star and it’s because he’s great in both hitting and defending.

While the Royals did hit a bit of a cold streak at the plate recently, when their offense is hot, it’s on fire. Those first five hitters plus Perez thrown in there would be a lot of fun to watch and it’s a bummer that fans didn’t get to witness that this year.