The 39-27 Royals remain one of the most surprising stories of the seasons first couple months. While Kansas City certainly expected to be better than they were last year, theyve played well enough to have a chance to top last seasons 56 wins by the All-Star Break. Any turnaround Ron Marinaccio Jersey that drastic is going to have multiple causes. Among the biggest (and perhaps least anticipated) developments for Kansas City is a ma sive first half from their franchise catcher. career looked to be on the decline heading into his age-34 season. He has turned back the clock with his best start in at least three years. Perez heads into this weeks matchup with the AL-leading Yankees carrying a .299/.372/.491 batting line acro s 261 plate appearances. He has connected on 10 homers and already picked up 15 doubles after hitting between 21 and 24 two-baggers in each of the last five full seasons. While hes dipped into a 3-25 slump to this point in June, Perez turned in well above-average production in both April and May. Among catchers with 100+ plate appearances, he ranks fifth in on-base percentage and fourth in slugging. Hes fourth at the position in overall offensive output after accounting for the difficulty of hitting in K.C.s spacious Kauffman Stadium. The OBP is particularly impre sive. Perez has always had big power, particularly relative to his counterparts behind the plate. He hasnt excelled at consistently getting on base, though. Perez is an extremely aggre sive hitter who has never been keen on waiting out free pa ses. He has only finished six of his 13 career seasons with an on-base percentage north of .300. Hes not only comfortably above that pace, hes on track for whatll be the best OBP of his career (and by a wide margin, if one excludes his 39-game rookie season in 2011 and the 37 games he played in 2020). Perez hasnt suddenly become a selective hitter a decade and a half into his MLB career. Among batters with 100+ PAs, only the has chased pitches outside the strike zone more frequently. Perez is eighth in overall swing rate. Hes as aggre sive as ever. Yet hes been more locked in this season than he has for the last couple years. Perez has made contact on 75.3% of his swings, a nearly four-point jump relative to last year and his highest rate since 2020. Its not a coincidence that hes striking out le s often than he has in nearly 10 years. Its a strong rebound for a player who looked to be on the downswing. Perez had arguably the worst season of his career in 2023. While he played in 140 games and hit 23 homers, his .422 slugging percentage was his second lowest. He hit .255 while reaching base at a .292 clip that were both below his career norms. FanGraphs graded Perez as a sub-replacement player in 2023; Baseball Reference had him marginally better than replacement level but with a personal-low 0.5 wins. Thats a reflection not only in his down work at the plate but a longstanding decline in his defensive metrics. Pitch framing metrics have never been keen on Perezs receiving skills. Hed typically done an excellent job at controlling the running game, but that evaporated last season. Perez threw out only nine of 63 attempted basestealers, a 14.3% rate that was well south of the 20% league mark. There are crucial aspects of catcher defense (game-calling, managing a pitching staff) that cant be captured by public metrics. Perez has always been highly-regarded for those qualities. That said, his 2023 performance in the quantifiable parts of catching was not impre sive. It looked in line with an overall declining career trajectory. Perez has rebounded on that side of the ball as well. Statcast has rated him as an average pitch framer in 321 innings. Hes 6-19 in cutting down stolen base attempts. Perez was behind the plate for 39 wild pitches over 738 1/3 frames last season; thats down to seven wild pitches in more than 40% of the innings this year. Its tough to fully separate that from the teams much improved pitching staff the Royals brought in and and are getting a full season from but Perezs defensive production has improved. The Royals have slightly reduced Perezs responsibilities. Theyre mixing him in at first base a little more often than they did last season, a luxury afforded by having a quality #2 catcher in . Perhaps thats also playing a part in Perezs resurgent production. In any case, the former World Series MVPs huge first couple months should send him to the All-Star Game for the ninth time in his career. Its a key reason the Royals are within four games of the Guardians for the AL Central lead and sit firmly in the second Wild Card position. Perezs return to form is also a welcome boost for a front office that made what was then a franchise-record investment three seasons ago. Kansas City signed him to a four-year, $82MM extension in Spring Training 2021 that preemptively covered the 2022-26 campaigns. Perez made $18MM in 22, $20MM for the following two seasons, and is set for a $22MM salary next year. Theres also a $2MM buyout on a $13.5MM team option for 2026.That contract seemed well underwater as recently as a few months ago, but its a reasonable sum for this level of production. The Royals dont need to concern themselves with Perezs long-term future, though its hard to envision him playing anywhere else at this point of his career. The immediate focus is on getting to the postseason for the first time since their 2015 championship. Perez is the only remaining player from that team and, even in his mid-30s, is playing a key role in trying to get Kansas City back to the playoffs nearly a decade later. 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