Is KC Royals catcher Salvador Perez getting snubbed?

Salvador Perez's six-game hitting streak ended Sunday when Detroit held him to just a walk in four plate appearances. And although back tightness kept him out of the starting lineup for Monday's series-opening loss to the Blue Jays, the KC Royals star still rapped a two-out pinch-hit single in the ninth to give the club a bit of hope before it bowed 6-5.

But don't think that a couple of games without several hits did anything to diminish the bright glow of the standout season Perez is having. Entering the final day of April, he leads the American League in batting at .346 and in RBI with 26. His 36 hits are fourth-best in the majors; his seven home runs tie Perez with several others for the fourth most in the big leagues.

And among catchers? He ranks first in home runs and RBI, and third in average and hits.

Pretty fine numbers, to be sure, but seemingly not good enough for MLB.com to project him as a member of the All-MLB team, which it will name after the season ends. Instead, it predicts Baltimore's Adley Rutschman (first team) and Milwaukee's William Contreras (second team) will make the squad instead.

Did Perez get snubbed?

Salvador Perez should be in the All-MLB conversation

Yes, it's early, and MLB.com won't make its final All-MLB selections until this season concludes. But not giving a preliminary nod to Perez ignores too much.

To be fair, MLB.com's projection story is a day old now, but the numbers through April 28 suggest Perez should have made it. He was slashing .340/.398/.592 through that date, while projected first-teamer Rutschman's line was .318/.361/.455, and Contreras's was .352/.432/.556. A case can be made that Contreras's line was better than Perez's, but Rutschman's simply wasn't.

What about other key stats? Today, Rutschman and Perez are even in hits, but Rutschman has three fewer homers and nine fewer RBI. Contreras's homers also trail Perez by three, but his nine RBI are far behind Perez's big league-best 26. Perez's better numbers speak volumes.

MLB.com emphasized Rutschman's 140 OPS+ and 50% hard-hit rate in its April 29 story. Updated, his numbers are 137 and 49.5, but what about Perez's higher 182 OPS+ and higher 52.7 had-hit rate, stats better than Rutschman's at either time? Contreras' current OPS+ is 177, and his hard-hit rate stands at 57.5.

MLB.com also liked Contreras's 94.3 EV. Rutschman's is 90.6, Perez's is 92.3.

In the end, then, Kansas City fans have reason to question MLB.com omitting Perez from its projected All-MLB team.

What we won't quibble with today

While it may have missed on Perez, MLB.com, it didn't on two other Royals. Bobby Witt Jr. is projected as the second team shortstop behind the Dodgers' Mookie Betts and Cole Ragans projects as a first-team starting pitcher.

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