Sunday, March 11, 2012

Player Profile: Salvador Perez

So Salvador Perez really is not a prospect anymore per se. He made his big league debut last year for the Kansas City Royals to relatively little fan fair and then signed a nice big contract extension recently this offseason. After arriving in the majors, he promptly hit .331 with a .361 wOBA in 158 PA. Obviously the low amount of plate appearances leaves little room for drawing conclusions about Perez’s ability. For instance, I can probably say pretty safely that he will not hit .331 or higher next season with more appearances. However, there is still plenty to like about the 21 year old catcher.

Even after a mini breakout in his 2010 minor league season, Perez still struggled for notoriety. He made it up to the 18th spot on Marc Hulet’s Kansas City Royals prospect rankings for 2011 but that was hardly awe inspiring even in a very deep Royals system. So his 2011 season both in the minors and majors may have caught more than one or two people by surprise.