KC Royals Dodge Bullet With Salvador Perez, Call Up Tony Cruz

The KC Royals dodged a bullet Saturday when MRI showed that catcher Salvador Perez suffered no structural damage in his collision with third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert.

The Kansas City Royals recalled catcher Tony Cruz from AAA Omaha, and sent down pitcher Peter Moylan. The KC Royals will attempt to ride out Perez’s recovery without putting him on the disabled list by carrying 12 pitchers instead of 13. Manager Ned Yost told ESPN:

"“Hopefully it’s not going to require a trip to the DL,” Royals manager Ned Yost said Sunday. “We’re hoping he’ll be back in 7 to 10 days. It could be earlier or later. We’ll just have to wait and see and just manage it day to day.“Great news, you don’t want to have to put him on the DL and he’s ready to play in eight days and has to sit there for another week.”"

The KC Royals acquired Cruz this winter from the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for 19-year-old infielder Jose Martinez. Apparently, the Cardinals are collecting as many players named Jose Martinez as they can, since they also traded for AAA Omaha Storm Chasers 27-year-old outfielder Jose Martinez last week.

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The 29-year-old Tony Cruz is a five-year major-league veteran who has been the backup in St. Louis for All-Star Yadier Molina. He’s a career .220/.262/.310 hitter in 591 career at bats and was slashing .278/.352/.417 for the Storm Chasers this season with 3 home runs and 20 RBI’s.

The Kansas City Royals showed the resilience that comes from winning last year’s World Series when Yost was able to joke about the collision with rookie third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert:

"“We’ve been kidding him about it,” Yost said. “I told him (Chiefs coach) Andy Reid called and wants him to be on the special teams, but Andy was afraid he was going to tackle the guy when he’s giving the fair catch sign. I kind of dropped that one on him.”"

Of course, it’s easier to make light of a situation when you enjoy job security like Yost does in Kansas City. Even so, Yost is sending a strong signal to his club not to scapegoat the 23-year-old third baseman for his mistake.

Next: Salvador Perez Suffers Knee Impact

That’s one of the reasons how Yost has created the outstanding clubhouse culture with the KC Royals where the coaches simply trust that most player miscues come from someone giving their all rather than lack of dedication to their craft.