In late July, Salvador Perez became the all-time home run leader for the Kansas City Royals. This is something incredible for Salvador Perez. Since making his MLB debut in 2011, he has become an extremely important player for the team. While reading news about becoming the franchise home run leader, I’m just thinking about his hitting performance with the Royals.
So far in his career, does he also lead in other hitting categories? To solve my doubts, I decided to check on the great baseball reference website.
Well, let’s start with home runs. Salvador Perez is now leading the Royals with 319 home runs. He surpassed George Brett, who’s widely considered “Mr. Royal”. George Brett spent 21 seasons in the majors and he smashed 317 home runs. Brett and Perez are the only 2 Royals who have 300+ home runs. Moreover, Mike Sweeney spent 13 seasons with the Royals and he had 197 home runs. Amos Otis played for the Royals for 14 seasons and he smashed 193 home runs. Furthermore, Alex Gordon played for the Royals from 2007 to 2020, smashing 190 home runs. He was a teammate of Salvador Perez.
In addition, let’s look at the number of hits. Well, George Brett collected 3154 hits in his career. He’s the only player from the Royals with 3000+ hits. This is certainly hard to reach. Moreover, Frank White played for the Royals from 1973 to 1990. In those 18 seasons, he had 2006 hits. And Amos Otis had 1977 hits in the Royals uniform. Willie Wilson played for the Royals from 1976 to 1990. In his 15 seasons with the team, he had 1968 hits. Hal McRae spent 15 seasons with the Royals and he had 1924 hits. Salvador Perez just reached 1800 hits a few days ago and now he has 1806 hits so far in his career.
Finally, let’s look at runs batted in. Again, we see George Brett on the top. Brett collected 1596 RBI in 21 seasons. Salvador Perez now has collected 1000+ RBI as a Royal. So far in his career, there are 3 times that he finished a season with 100+ RBI. Moreover, Hal McRae is the other player who collected 1000+ RBI in the Royals uniform. Amos Otis didn’t reach 1000 RBI in the Royals uniform, but it was very close. Additionally, Frank White collected 886 RBI as a Royal.
As we can see, Salvador Perez is now leading the Royals with 319 home runs. Without a doubt, he will still hit home runs and extend the lead. Nonetheless, in other hitting categories, things might not be easy. George Brett is a member of the 3000-hit club. But Salvador Perez is not even close to 2000 hits so far. Well, Salvador Perez has collected 1000+ RBI thus far in his career. Nonetheless, to reach George Brett’s 1596 RBI isn’t easy. Salvador Perez already turned 36 and it’s hard to imagine that he will play 4 or even more seasons in the majors. Also, he has to consistently collect RBI every season. Salvador Perez certainly has a great career with the Royals, in particular, he and the Royals won the World Series title in 2015. And this year, he became the home run leader in franchise history and will continue extending the lead. Nonetheless, for other hitting categories, the leader is still Mr. Royal.
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