The Royals expect to retain long -term catcher and team captain Salvador Perez for the 2026 season. “I think it is safe to say that Salvy will somehow be in a Royals uniform in ’26,” JJ Picollo, managing director JJ Picollo told reporters (including Jaylon Thompson from the Kansas City Star). “What we do further still has to be determined. But there are some things that we still have to work through and that we have to talk about.”
The simplest path would be that the team carries out their $ 13.5 mm option for next season. Picollo has not committed itself to that way of acting, which opened the possibility to rework the deal as part of an expansion. In speculatively they could try to insist a new contract that lowers next season’s salary and at the same time guaranteeing some money for Perez during his 37 -year campaign in 2027. Picollo said Via the corresponding press).
Perez, 35, has played all 15 of his large League seasons with Kansas City and is a franchise icon. He is currently in 7th place in the franchise history in games played with 1,707, 6th in hits with 1,712, 2nd in Thuis Runs with 303 and 2nd in RBI with 1,016. All in all, he is worth 35.5 bwar in his career, good for the 4th in the history of Royals under position players behind George Brett” Amos OtisAnd Willie Wilson. He has been named an All-Star nine times while he won five golden gloves and 7th ended in Al MVP voices in 2021 at the back of a 48 Homer campaign.
His attacking figures from 2025 were largely in line with his career production. In 155 games Perez .236/.284/.446 with 30 home runs and 100 RBI. His running speed of 4.4% was slightly lower than the 6.7% of last year, while his strikeout percentage of 19.5% was about the same. His 95 WRC+ was almost average in general, but above the average for its position, and became 7th under qualified catchers in between William Contreras And JT RealMuto. All in all, his attacking contributions were appreciated at 1.6 bwar.
His defensive figures were a different story. Continue with a trend from the past seasons, Perez split behind the plate and at first base in 2025. In 92 games behind the plate he was appreciated on -15 Drs, which was the last place among catchers with at least 500 innings in the position (Perez played 761 2/3 innings there). Statcast is still thinking strongly of Perez’s pop time, which is in the 68th percentile, but rank its arm strength and framing in the 2nd and 15th percentile respectively. He rated at -3 Drs and committed one error in 30 games at first base.
Defensive misery aside, Perez is generally appreciated in the Royals Clubhouse for his veteran presence and leadership. He is the last remaining active player of the 2015 club who won the World Series (in which he was the MVP series), and he was appointed team captain in 2023. He also works well as a mentor of the young pitchers and catchers of the team, including Carter JensenAccording to MLB.com, it rates as the prospect of the royals.
Jensen made his debut in Big League in 2025 and will compete for a schedule place next year, allowing Perez to spend more time at first base and DH. Kansas City exchanged long -term back -up away Freddy Fermin At the deadline. Luke Mile is an approaching free agent, who will leave Perez (assuming that a kind of contract will be worked out) and Jensen as the only two catchers on the 40-man schedule that goes into the low season.
Whether they just pick up his club option or sign him to a new deal, the royals ensure that their franchise player remains as an elder statesman for an Upstart Roster who wants to fight in 2026. The club ended with an 82-80 record in 2025, good for 3rd place in the Al Central. Their team of 3.76 is in 6th place in the Majors thanks to strong seasons of Michael Stop” Kris BubicAnd Noah Cameron. ACE Cole Ragans Missed time due to an injury, but will return in 2026 with a completely low season to rest and get back in shape. On the offensive side, Kansas City is in 22nd place in the competition with a WRC+ team of 93, although they have two very valuable players in Bobby Witt Jr. And Maikel Garcia To build around. If they can find some additional pieces around those two and Perez while retaining their pitching power, the club can be a candidate for dark horses to win the Al Central next year.
#Salvador #Perez #returns #Royals