NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Salvador Perez was back in the lineup for the Kansas City Royals after his first day off this season and posting on social media about not needing a mental breather.
Perez was the designated hitter Sunday and said things between him and manager Matt Quatraro are fine.
鈥淣o frustration, Zero frustration for us,鈥� Perez said before the finale of a three-game series against the Yankees. 鈥淭he people they don鈥檛 want to know what鈥檚 going on here. They can think and they can say whatever they want to say, you know, zero frustration. I don鈥檛 have time for that.鈥�
On Saturday, Perez was given his first day off since sitting out two games last August.
Quatraro described it as giving him a mental breather.
On Saturday night, Perez : 鈥淚 don鈥檛 need a mental breather.鈥�
鈥淚 know people were surprised I didn’t play yesterday, but I think everybody has off days in the big leagues,” Perez said. “It鈥檚 kind of hard to play 162, especially behind the home plate.”
鈥淓verything鈥檚 fine,鈥� Quatraro said. 鈥淪alvy and I have talked multiple times about it. We鈥檙e in a good spot. I think some of it comes from it鈥檚 a story when Salvy doesn鈥檛 play and there鈥檚 usually a follow-up question to how鈥檇 that go, how鈥檚 he feeling. 鈥淪o it was just me trying to provide a little color to the answer that didn鈥檛 go the way it was intended and that鈥檚 really all there was to it.鈥�
Perez was the DH for the seventh time this season.
Off to a slow start, Perez is hitting .160 with three homers and six RBIs in his first 20 games. Last season, the 35-year-old batted .236 鈥� his second lowest-average in a full season 鈥� but hit 30 homers and drove in 100 runs for his third career 100-RBI season.
Perez caught 92 games last season, was the designated hitter in 38 other games and also played 28 games at first base. He played 47 games at first base in 2024.
To give Perez more time at designated hitter, the Royals added a third catcher when they selected the contract of El铆as D铆az from Triple-A Omaha. D铆az signed a minor league contract with Kansas City in late-February and was hitting .226 at Omaha.
Last season D铆az batted .204 with nine homers and 29 RBIs in 106 games for the San Diego Padres. He is a career .247 hitter with 71 homers and 326 RBIs in 11 seasons for Colorado, Pittsburgh and San Diego.
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