The Kansas City Royals and catcher Salvador Perez have agreed to a four-year extension, the team announced on Sunday.
The contract is worth $ 82 million, a source told ESPN, which confirmed multiple reports, making it the richest deal in Royals history. The Kansas City Star first reported on the financial aspect of Perez’s extension.
Perez’s renewal, which begins with the 2022 season, comes after a 2020 season in which he was named AL Comeback Player of the Year.
He missed the 2019 season after having surgery on Tommy John, but returned with a bang in the shortened ’20 campaign. The 2015 World Series MVP hit a career-best .333 with 11 home runs and 32 RBI’s in 37 games.
His career-high .633 slugging percentage was the second-highest in Royals history, behind only George Brett (.664 in 1980). And he became only the third catcher since 1900 to record multihit-games, including an extra-base-hit, in six consecutive games (September 11-18).
Perez is a five-time Gold Glove winner and the Royals are counting on his ability to bring out the best in their pitchers to help a young and promising starting rotation that they hope will lead them back to the playoffs.
It has also proven to be durable behind the plate. Perez played in at least 129 games for six consecutive seasons until he missed the 2019 season.
Perez, 30, is heading into his 10th season in the majors, all at Kansas City. For his career, he has lowered .269 / .300 / .449.
Jeff Passan of ESPN and The Associated Press contributed to this report.