One of the rarest of finds within a team’s roster in Major League Baseball is catching depth. Few teams have ever boasted having too many catchers on hand, and many teams today don’t even have one solid option, let alone several to choose from. The Royals have one of the best young catchers in the game in Salvador Perez, but Bob Dutton reports the Royals have had a hard time finding help after Perez’s recent injury.
Perez is out for the next several weeks due to torn cartilage in his knee. This comes after Perez signed a recent extension to keep him the Royals catcher here for the next five seasons at least. Now the team must turn to Brayan Pena but still need someone beyond that.
“There’s not another Sal out there that you can get,” Yost told the Star. “There’s just not. The next-best thing is probably some semblance of a catch-and-throw guy who can hit a little bit, but that guy is going to cost you a young prospect. We don’t want to do that.
“So you either get a guy who can hit like a son-of-a-gun and can’t catch, or a guy who can catch like a son-of-a-gun who you hope can at least be a good situational-type hitter who mixes in a few hits. I’d rather go that route.”
Dutton reports the team is looking at other options and includes some familiar names on that list — from Ivan Rodriguez to Wil Nieves. Nothing is going to inspire too much except for hearing reports that Perez is returning. For now the Royals’ best option is to hold the fort until he can return.