It’s been a rough season for Salvador Perez, whose -1.0 fWAR is the lowest of any qualified hitter in baseball. Perez has 19 home runs and is still en route to his tenth season of 20-plus homers, but he has otherwise hit just .228/.273/.383 over 574 plate appearances, translating to a career-low 77 wRC+.
Perez turns 37 next May, and 2027 is the last season of the two-year, $25MM extension he signed with the Royals last November. Given Perez’s age and declining numbers, discussion of retirement is inevitable, but the catcher told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers that “[the] only thing I know is that I want to play as long as I can. Can be DH, can be first base, can be behind the plate….Keep preparing my body, keep preparing myself, and I don’t have any plan.”
The 15-year MLB veteran did note his longevity by saying “I think at this point, it has to be year by year. And I get it. It’s fair for Kansas City and fair for me. End of the day, it’s a business.” Perez noted that he hasn’t spoken to Royals GM J.J. Picollo about a new contract, or what the future might hold for the longtime backstop.
Since first signing with the Royals as an international free agent 20 years ago, Perez has become the face of this era of Kansas City baseball. His long run in the blue-and-white has seen Perez become the franchise’s all-time home run leader (with 322 big flies), and he was named World Series MVP in 2015 when the Royals captured the championship. Perez’s individual resume also includes nine All-Star nods, five Gold Gloves, five AL Silver Slugger awards, and the 2024 Roberto Clemente Award for his humanitarian and charitable work off the field.
The ups and downs of his offensive production over the years have left Perez with an almost exactly average 101 wRC+. He posted a 117 wRC+ as recently as 2024 (when the Royals returned to the playoffs) before declining to a 96 wRC+ last year that perhaps hinted at this season’s dropoff. A lingering elbow problem could be to blame for Perez’s down season, and that same elbow has limited him to only 44 appearances as a catcher. Carter Jensen was already expected to work in at least a timeshare with Perez behind the plate this year, and Jensen’s impressive rookie year has established him as Kansas City’s new regular backstop going forward.
This is no problem for Perez, who praised his teammate for stepping up as the heir apparent. While Perez wants to catch more often in 2027, he acknowledged that he won’t be the first-choice option, saying “when you got guys like Jensen, who does a good job, it makes me feel better about it. He’s ready. Now, you feel like you’re doing the best thing you can for the team.”
Kansas City has two more promising prospects in Blake Mitchell and Ramon Ramirez, but since those players have yet to reach Double-A, there would seemingly be room for Perez to continue in a part-time capacity in 2028 if he and the Royals have mutual interest in another extension (or if Perez wants to keep playing altogether). Perez has become such a franchise icon that the team will surely give him plenty of leeway in deciding his next step. His current contract pays him only $6.5MM in actual salary in 2027, as $12MM of the $25MM guaranteed is deferred until at least 2030.
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