KANSAS CITY, Mo.—Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez has been named a finalist for a 2022 Louisville Silver Slugger Award, as announced today by Louisville Slugger. Perez is one of six finalists among American League catchers, joining Toronto’s Alejandro Kirk, Houston’s Martín Maldonado, Oakland’s Sean Murphy, Seattle’s Cal Raleigh and Baltimore’s Adley Rutschman.
Perez, a four-time Louisville Silver Slugger winner, led the Royals with 23 home runs in 2022 while posting a .254/.292/.465 (113-for-445, .757 OPS) slashline and 76 RBI, all while missing 41 games due to a left thumb injury that required surgery in June. Despite the missed games, he ranked top-5 among American League catchers (min. 75 games played) in at-bats per RBI (5.43, 1st), at-bats per home run (19.20, 2nd), RBI (3rd), slugging percentage (3rd), isolated power (.212, 3rd), home runs (T-4th), extra-base hits (31, 5th) and OPS (5th). He ranked 5th overall in the American League with a .337 batting average (34-for-101) with runners in scoring position, trailing Minnesota’s Luis Arraez (.366), New York’s Jose Trevino (.355) and Aaron Judge (.346) and Chicago’s Andrew Vaughn (.339). His batting average with runners in scoring position was even higher with 2 outs, as he batted .341 (15-for-44) in those situations. He hit safely in 27 of his last 33 games from Aug. 22-season’s end, batting .333 (43-for-129) which was tied for 6th in the AL in that span. On Oct. 1 in Cleveland—his final game of the year—he went 4-for-4, and his fourth and final hit of the night was a solo home run that marked the 1,274th hit of his career, surpassing Billy Butler (1,273 hits) for sole possession of 8th place in Royals history.
Should Perez win the award (which was established in 1980), it would be his fifth career honor, following 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2021. His four Silver Slugger Awards are the most in franchise history, one more than Hall of Famer George Brett. If he wins a fifth, he would tie Hall of Famer Gary Carter, Joe Mauer, Jorge Posada and Buster Posey for the 5th-most Silver Slugger Awards won by a catcher, trailing only Hall of Famers Mike Piazza (10) and Iván Rodríguez (7), Brian McCann (6) and Lance Parrish (6). He would also be the first American League catcher to earn the honor in three straight seasons since Mauer won it in thrice in a row from 2008-10. Additionally, a fifth Silver Slugger Award would tie Houston’s Jose Altuve, who is also a finalist this season at second base, for 2nd-most among Venezuelan-born players, behind only Miguel Cabrera (7).
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