Royals’ Salvadore Perez Breaks Home Run Record for Catchers

The Kansas City Royals have been eliminated from the post season for some time now, but the club’s fans do have something to cheer about as the 2021 season heads into the last two weeks.

Catcher Salvadore Perez is having a great season even if the Royals aren’t. On September 20th, Perez hit a two run homer against the Cleveland Indians in a 7-2 win over the Cleveland Indians. It was his 46th homer of the year, and it broke a 52 year old record for home runs by a catcher set by Hall of Famer Johnny Bench of the Cincinnati Reds. Since catchers sometimes play other positions as well as act as designated hitter or pinch hitter, the record is considered to be for a “primary catcher”, or the catcher for 75% of a team’ games. Perez had been the catcher in 118 of 151 games and the DH in 35 more when he broke the record.

Perez is quietly having a monster year. Through September 20th, the seven time All-Star is tied with Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for the major league lead in homers, and he leads the majors in RBIs with 115. He was the MVP of the 2015 World Series, when the Royals beat the New York Mets in five games in their last post season appearance.