'Like a son': Longtime Royals coach's bond with Salvy extends beyond baseball

MINNEAPOLIS -- As Salvador Perez rounded the bases Saturday afternoon in Detroit, following his record-breaking swing that put him atop the Royals’ all-time home run list, one coach jumped out of the dugout to greet Perez after he crossed home plate.

When Perez saw Miguel Garcia there, a huge smile splashed across his face. The 36-year-old Royals slugger wrapped the coach who has known him the longest into a big, Salvy-sized hug.

“That was really special,” Garcia said Sunday via interpreter and Royals strength coach Luis Perez. “I forgot there were fans in the stadium. I was just watching him run the bases. I had a knot in my throat.”

Garcia is a longtime Royals coach who has been on the big league staff since 2009. His title was batting practice pitcher until ‘22 before it expanded to coach in ‘23. The lefty batting practice pitcher, he’s constantly in the cages throwing to hitters before and during games.

The 55-year-old joined the Royals organization in 2001 as a hitting and outfield coach in the Dominican Republic. Five years after that, in ‘06, is when he met Perez, then a 16-year-old catcher who had just signed with the Royals out of Venezuela.

“He is the same person now as he was then,” Garcia said of Perez. “Really hard working.”

The two stayed close through Perez’s Minor League career and reunited when Perez made it to the big leagues in 2011.

More than anyone else, Perez says Garcia is the one who gets him ready to play every day with their routine.

“I’ve known him since 2006 in the Dominican in instructional league,” Perez said. “That was the first time I met Miggy. It’s been 20 years that I’ve been with him. All my career in the big leagues. A little bit in the Minor Leagues. He’s a guy who gets me ready, who knows when I’m struggling, sees the video and tells me what I’m doing wrong to try to fix it. I appreciate him a lot.”

So what is the routine that has allowed Perez to turn into the greatest power hitter in Royals history? Garcia says it hasn’t changed too much across all these years.

“The main focus has always been to feel fluid with his swing,” Garcia said. “To be able to feel good, and with a fluid swing, and to concentrate on the pitches that he knows he can hit really well, which is middle to the pull side. Don’t leave the cage without a good swing, good fluid swings hitting the ball that way.”

Garcia has been by Perez’s side through every part of his career. He was Perez’s pitcher in the 2021 Home Run Derby. He’s seen all of the highs of Perez’s career and helped him through the lows. Throughout those 20 years of working together, Garcia and Perez have developed more than a coach-player relationship. Perez views Garcia as a father figure. Garcia has six children of his own but says Perez was his first.

Like a father and son, they’ll fight sometimes. There might be a few days where they don’t talk. As Garcia was interviewed for this story, Perez ran by a few times and lovingly reminded Garcia of that, which made Garcia laugh.

“Every day is something different with him,” Garcia said. “He’s always doing things he’s not supposed to be doing or things I don’t agree with, and, like a son, he keeps doing it. Then I get mad. Just like a kid who doesn’t want to obey their dad.”

But they love and respect each other, and that was clear Saturday. On a day that was all about Perez, he made sure to thank the people who got him to this point: His mom, his family, his teammates, tons of coaches and people inside and outside of the Royals organization. Garcia is a major part of that group and a big part of the Royals’ staff.

“Miggy is a tireless worker,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “Really good baseball guy. He’s shy to speak at points because of the language barrier, but when you engage him and ask for his opinion, he’s really smart at what’s going on. He spends a ton of time thinking about how to make, not only Salvy, but other players better.

“The work he’s dedicated to Salvy during the season and in the offseason, he should share in that joy and be part of that and be recognized for that. Because like almost everybody out here, their work behind the scenes is tireless, thankless; and to be thanked for that, I think, is really special that Salvy recognized that.”