Kansas City fans haven’t had much to cheer about when it comes to their Royals this year. However the lone bright spot in an otherwise forgettable season has been the play of catcher Salvador Perez. Hitting .276 on the year with 115RBIs and 82 runs scored, the Venezuelan born catcher was already having a season to remember.
With a few weeks left on the MLB calendar, Perez had already set career highs in Home Runs, Runs, RBIs, Hits, and Walks. Monday night, he added the cherry on top to his historic season by clubbing his 46th home run of 2021. With his latest round tripper, he now passes Johnny Bench for the most home runs in a season by a catcher.
Not only that, but his left field blast also made a bit of team history as well, as he passed Mike Sweeney for 2nd all time on the career home run total list as a Royal. Perez is now tied with Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for the league lead in home runs with 46, two clear of Shohei Ohtani who currently sits in 3rd place with 44.
Perez hit his 45th home run of the year last Thursday against the A’s to move him into a tie with Bench. Since then he’d be mired in a 2/14 slump as he admitted that a potentially historic swing was on his mind quite a bit. With the proverbial monkey now off his back, the question now becomes whether he can become the first catcher to lead the league in home runs since the aforementioned Johnny Bench in the early 70’s.
If Perez is able to hit 4 more homers in the Royals final 11 games of the year, he would become only the 28th player in Major League history to reach the 50HR plateau in a single season. He would also become the first catcher in the history of baseball to join the exclusive club.
The Kansas City Royals wrap up their season at home on Sunday October 3rd against the Minnesota Twins.