Salvador Perez's season capturing Royals milestones is cushioning his fall from grace

Last season, the Kansas City Royals welcomed their second member of the franchise to the 300 HR club after their captain Salvador Perez joined their former captain George Brett. After signing an extension off the back of a 30 homer and 100 RBI season, the Royals likely thought that 2026 would not only see him inch closer and even surpass some more names in the Royals' record books, but that Perez would continue to be a key cog in their offensive attack in the process.

Royals fans will know by now that though the latter has not been the case by any means this season for Perez. However, the former has helped ease the blow of his dreadfully poor season and makes his firm entrance into the twilight years of his career much easier to palate. Thursday night provided another one of those milestones to undercut the blow of his struggles.

With a solo-homer in the sixth inning of their 14-6 beat down of their I-70 rivals in the St. Louis Cardinals, Perez became the franchise leader in home runs at Kauffman Stadium, passing Brett this time. It also inched him closer to the all-time franchise lead as his 313 trails Brett by just four now. This season, Perez has also managed to climb to second in franchise history in total bases.

"I’m glad they recognized it in front of the home crowd, you know, while it was the same night," manager Matt Quatraro told Jaylon Thompson of the Kansas City Star. "So everybody that was here got to applaud him.

"The guy’s a legend and everything he does is another milestone," the Royals skipper also said.

The accomplishments may be coming in, but Perez is having a dreadful season

However nice it is that Perez continues to cement his Royals legacy this season, it's only softening the blow of what's been a real eye-opening season for the 36-year-old, who really looks his age right now.

In 296 plate appearances across 70 games, the veteran backstop has managed to post double-digit homers, but 27 RBI hardly puts him on pace to repeat last season's strong run production showing. On top of that, he's slashing just .207/.250/.342 with a career-low 57 wRC+ and -1.1 fWAR.

From an underlying metrics point of view, his 18.9% K-rate is respectable, but only being at a 50th percentile or greater mark in just hit-rate and barrel rate on top of that - where he sits among the 50th and 56th percentile, respectively - is certainly nothing to boast about.

He's looked his age this season and the Royals are finally starting to acknowledge that by moving him further out of the key roles in the lineup that he's held in recent years to make way for the new era of stars, such as the likes of Jac Caglianone.

To say that Perez doesn't have role to play for the Royals would be false, as he still has plenty to offer to the clubhouse as their captain and a vocal leader. However, if it weren't for nights like Thursday, fans' patience may be running a lot thinner than they are right now with their franchise stalwart.

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