KC Royals News: Salvador Perez up for major award, old friends, and more

Salvador Perez has made a nice habit of collecting awards throughout his 12-season major league career. He's landed nine All-Star berths, five Gold Gloves, and a team record four Silver Sluggers, just to name a few of his major accolades.

One honor Perez has never won, despite being nominated for it in 2021 and again last year, is the Roberto Clemente Award, the highly-regarded honor presented each year to the major leaguer who "...best represents the game of Baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field."

Now, he has another chance to win. He's the Royals' nominee for the 2024 award:

Perez's off-field contributions and activities are many, varied, and exceptional, both in the United States and Venezuela. Among his efforts are helping fund-raising for the ALS cure-seeking "Sara's Soldiers" and funding surgeries for children; he's also heavily involved in helping Venezuelans in their home country.

This year's award recipient will be chosen via a fan vote and input from a select panel. Fans can vote via the link above throughout the rest of the season.

Kansas City may face two former Royals during their visit to The Bronx

The Royals open another important series tonight at 6:05 p.m. CDT when they take on the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Brady Singer (9-10, 3.35 ERA) goes after a career high-tying 10th win for KC while Carlos Rodón (14-9, 4.19 ERA) will start for New York.

And a pair of former Royals could see action out of Yankee manager Aaron Boone's bullpen — Tim Hill, who went 3-4, 4.11 with three saves for Kansas City over the 2018 and 2019 seasons, and Luke Weaver, who spent part of the 2022 campaign with the Royals and was 0-0 with a 5.59 ERA in 14 appearances, are both playing not insignificant roles for Boone. Weaver is 4-3, 3.28 in 55 games for the Yanks this year; Hill is 3-0, 2.34 with four saves in 27 games since signing as a free agent in June. Before that, he posted a 27-appearance 1-0, 5.87 ERA record for the White Sox.

Ex-Royals star fractures foot

It's been seven weeks since Atlanta signed former Kansas City super-utility player Whit Merrifield to a free agent deal. He's played 34 games for the Braves since Philadelphia released him in July, and is slashing .243/.359/.342 with a home run and three RBI for his new club, which is tied for the National League's third Wild Card spot.

But the left foot fracture he suffered last Friday against Toronto, the team he joined via a surprising trade with the Royals at the 2022 deal deadline, casts some doubt on how many of the Braves' 19 remaining regular season games he'll play. As of this writing, Atlanta hadn't put him on the Injured List, and a weekend examination suggested Merrifield could get back on the field as soon as this weekend.

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