Salvador

Perez

It’s the fourth Silver Slugger Award for Judge following a 58-homer, 144-RBI campaign where he finished with a surreal 1.159 OPS over 158 games. The other big takeaways here are Juan Soto tying Mike Trout for the most Silver Sluggers (five) before turning 26 and Brent Rooker becoming the first Athletics player to take home the hardware since 2002. Here are the rest of the American League winners: Salvador Perez (C), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (1B), Jose Altuve (2B), José Ramírez (3B), Bobby Witt Jr. (SS), Anthony Santander (OF), Juan Soto (OF), Aaron Judge (OF), Brent Rooker (DH) and Josh Smith (UTIL).

Perez becomes the first Royals player to receive the award, which recognizes off-the-field contributions. The 13-year veteran and Royals captain is not only active with Kansas City charities, having made a $1 million donation to the Kansas City Urban Youth Academy, but also distributes food in his native Venezuela every offseason.

Pérez just keeps on hitting. He helped spurn a first inning rally against Tarik Skubal and pulled his Royals to within two runs after his run scoring single in the eighth. The 35-year-old has put together another fine season with a .276 batting average, .806 OPS, 27 homers, and 103 RBI.

Perez’ home run was his 26th of the year. He hit a solo shot off Carlos Rodon in the third inning. Perez also had RBI singles in the first and fifth innings. He had a rough night behind the plate with two throwing errors, including one that directly lead to a run when he misfired as Jasson Dominguez stole third base. Perez was stellar at the plate, though. He’s hitting .275 with an .809 OPS and 98 RBI on the year.

The Royals had a frustrating day at the plate where they were consistently on base and hitting the ball hard, but struggled to break through against Simeon Woods-Richardson. That changed in the fifth inning with Pérez’s RBI single, but that was still the last run they’d score. He’s had a cold second half, but still a solid season with 25 homers, 95 RBI, and an .795 OPS.

It was an encouraging sign to see Gurriel back in Kansas City’s lineup on Friday evening following a two-game absence due to a mild hamstring strain. It’ll be Salvador Perez taking a turn at first base with Freddy Fermin handling the catching duties. The 40-year-old figures to continue playing everyday at first base for the Royals down the home stretch. There’s minimal appeal here for fantasy managers outside of extremely deep mixed leagues.

Salvador Perez will slide to designated hitter, but the Royals continue to find ways to get Fermin’s bat in the lineup after hitting .307 in 27 games since the All-Star break with two home runs, nine runs scored, and 14 RBI. He’s a fringe option in one-catcher formats with his expanded playing time.

Perez has 25 home runs on the season now. He hit a solo shot off Logan Allen in the fifth inning and a grand slam off Tim Herrin in the sixth inning. Perez also had an RBI groundout in the third inning. He’s hitting .282 with an .835 OPS and 94 RBI on the year.

More credit to the Royals’ three-man offense. Perez now has 23 homers and 23 doubles in 513 plate appearances this season. His remarkable 48-homer season in 2021 was actually the only time in his career that he’s reached 30 homers or 30 doubles in a year. There’s the chance he’ll get there in both categories this season.

Perez had an RBI single in the third inning and a two-run double in the seventh inning. He has at least one RBI in seven of his last nine games. Perez is hitting .278 with an .808 OPS and 85 RBI on the year.