Royals losing Salvador Perez to injury would be more detrimental than some might want to admit

After losing their fourth straight game, their sixth in their last seven and 11th in their last 15 games on Wednesday against the Dodgers, it seems as though the Royals have found a way to continue to dig themselves further than rock bottom in an already nightmare season. But if any Royals fans thinks it can't get any worse, they're sorely mistaken and Salvador Perez's early exit is proof of that theory.

The veteran backstop left Wednesday's finale in the sixth inning with an aggravated elbow. While he may be hopeful to return on Friday against the Angels, the fact remains, he's an aging catcher with an elbow issue and that's never a great combination.

At first glance though, this doesn't seem like a major loss for the Royals. Perez is having arguably the worst season of his career with a .216/.262/.369 slash line, 69 wRC+ and -1.2 fWAR. He's looking less and less like part of this Royals core and more like just a great clubhouse presence that happens to be looking to cement himself in the franchise record book.

However, that's not the whole story when it comes to Perez this season. While the first-half may've looked as bad as bad can get, Perez has turned a corner in the second-half of the season. In 24 games since the All-Star break, Perez is sporting a 111 wRC+ compared to a 58 wRC+ in the first-half. He's hitting a respectable .241 with a .784 OPS, five homers, 15 RBI and just an under-20% K-rate.

With both Vinnie Pasquantino and Maikel Garcia still not back in the lineup yet, Perez's contributions in the middle of the order have meant that much more. Sure the Royals may not be playing for anything anymore this season, but no MLB team should want to come out losing the way the Royals are. It's about moral victories at this point and Perez's second-half resurgence is precisely one of those.

Only time will tell if he needs to miss time because of his latest elbow ailment, but the Royals will certainly be better off if is hopes for playing on Friday come to fruition.

Salvador Perez may not be riding off into the sunset quite yet

Apart from the recent offensive improvement, Perez is finding other ways of late to show his value in this floundering Royals squad.

With a 27th percentile marks or lower in pop time, blocks above average and framing rate, Perez looks far from the five-time Gold Glove award winner that he was in his peak. However, after spending the majority of his 15 years in the majors behind the plate, he knows how to work with a pitching staff and call a game.

While he may not be getting as many reps behind the dish this season, he's recently worked with Noah Cameron a lot more. Cameron may be calling his own games, but his veteran presence behind the dish has surely been a calming influence for the sophomore hurler and has paid dividends in getting Cameron looking more like a future piece of this rotation rather than a one-hit wonder.

Some may've wanted to have the retirement conversation when it comes to Perez. Some may've wanted to talk about more of a limited bench role, keeping his bubbly personality and leadership qualities in the clubhouse while acknowledging his diminishing results at the plate. But Perez may be proving that he may be more of a factor to the Royals' competitive plans in 2027 after all.

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