Salvy wins AL Comeback Player of the Year
Jeffrey Flanagan
@FlannyMLBKANSAS CITY -- Royals catcher Salvador Perez overcame not one but three major obstacles on his journey to being named the 2020 American League Comeback Player of the Year.
The six-time All-Star won the honor on Thursday after missing all of 2019 because of Tommy John surgery. He then missed the beginning of Summer Camp after testing positive for COVID-19. He also missed over three weeks during the season because of a rare eye condition that caused blurriness.
Perez wasn’t deterred. In 37 games in 2020, he hit 11 home runs and 12 doubles, drove in 32 runs and posted a .986 OPS. His efforts were good enough to earn him a spot on the All-MLB First Team, which was unveiled on Wednesday.
Royals general manager Dayton Moore has often said of Perez, “We are a completely different team with Salvy in the lineup. That has always been the case.”
Perez, 30, is entering the final year of his contract with Kansas City.
The Comeback Player of the Year Awards are officially sanctioned by MLB and have been presented annually since 2005 to one player in each league who has re-emerged on the field during the season. The 30 beat reporters from MLB.com selected the winners from an original list of 30 candidates (one per MLB Club).
Perez recorded a .353 on-base percentage and a career-high .633 slugging percentage, which was the second highest in franchise history behind only Hall of Famer George Brett, who amassed a .664 mark during his AL MVP Award-winning season in 1980. Perez’s 11 home runs led Kansas City and were tied for third most by a player who played 37 games or fewer, trailing only Hall of Famers Frank Thomas (12 in 34 games) in 2005 and Ted Williams (13 in 37 games) in 1953.
Perez is the second Royals player to claim the AL Comeback Player of the Year Award, joining former teammate Mike Moustakas in 2017. Pitcher Bret Saberhagen also earned Comeback Player of the Year honors, from the Sporting News and United Press International, in 1987.