Royals: Positional battle, Salvador Perez needs a backup

The Kansas City Royals’ most likely option at backup catcher has already played the role in multiple seasons, but he has to show he can produce offensively as well as defensively.

Cam Gallagher

Cam Gallagher is an easily recognizable name for Royals fans. He saw some time at catcher for the Royals during small portions of the 2017 and 2018 seasons. In 2019, Gallagher looked like a possible candidate to be the starting catcher for a short time before the team signed Maldonado.

Gallagher assumed the role of backup and did a decent job through a good portion of the season, playing in 45 games in 2019. Offensively, Gallagher needs to continue to work if he wants to remain a front runner in the backup catcher race. He ended 2019 with a slash of .238/.312/.365, with 12 RBIs, 14 runs, and 3 home runs.

By no means is this terrible for a backup catcher, but there are likely options out there with better numbers offensively.  Gallagher did well defensively as well. He carried a .997 fielding percentage through the season but did have a low 20 percent caught-stealing rate.

In 2018 he carried a caught stealing rate of 29 percent, though this was over only 20 games. It’s likely that with more time, Gallagher could break out offensively and improve his stealing rate. Only time will tell though if the Royals decide he is to be the backup catcher.