Royals further confound fans with controversial roster move amid Salvador Perez fiasco

Kansas City Royals manager Matt Quatraro made a bold move on Saturday when he benched his captain Salvador Perez for what the skipper cited as a giving him a "mental breather". Perez didn't take too kindly the decision, appearing to call out Quatraro publicly on X after the game saying his lineup choice was unnecessary.

Amid the potentially worrying clubhouse drama for some fans, the Royals have taken things a step further when it comes to their catching situation. They've reverted back to the three-catcher system they deployed for much of the 2025 season, selecting the contract of and calling up former All-Star backstop Elias Díaz from Triple-A Omaha.

The move itself adds some more flexibility to the Royals lineup to really aid Perez in snapping out of his offensive slump. An action like Saturday's was long overdue for the Royals captain, who's slashing just .160/.210/.307 with just a 36 wRC+ to start the year with fans having frustrations around his output at the plate for considerable time now.

Carter Jensen is fitting into the lineup seamlessly with team-leading totals in HR (5), RBI (12), SLG (.506) and wRC+ (122) to start the season, as well as looking like a considerable force behind the plate with above-average totals in caught stealing above average, frame rate and pop time. While he's still young, the thought of easing him into the catcher's role seems less of a big deal at this point.

Jensen's surge and Díaz's promotion now frees up Perez from calling games on a more regular basis, allowing him instead to focus primarily on his bat. And the Royals took full advantage of that on Sunday afternoon, as Perez will be DH'ing instead with the new Royals backstop in Díaz assuming catching duties in the series finale against the Yankees.

Royals' Elias Díaz may not be your ordinary third catcher

As for Díaz, while his move might get lost in the fanfare of the Perez saga, his promotion could be more than just the Royals looking for catching flexibility. Díaz proved in spring training that perhaps his All-Star days at this dish might not be quite behind him just yet.

While he may not have carried that momentum over into the Triple-A season this year with .219/.286/.250 slash line in 10 games, his .533 AVG, 1.333 OPS and 257 wRC+ in six games after joining the Royals' camp in Surprise can't be discounted.

Not to mention, he adds another veteran game-caller to clubhouse who knows his way behind the plate, most recently holding near- or above-average totals across the board behind the plate when it comes to blocking, framing, catching runners stealing and pop time with the San Diego Padres last season.

At the very worst, this decision offers an opportunity for Perez to spend less time worrying about calling games for the time being and more time focusing on becoming the asset at the plate that Royals fans have come to expect from him throughout his career. However, considering the corresponding move for Díaz was optioning Tyler Tolbert, he already poses more value as a third catcher than Tolbert did as a utility bench piece.

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