Is the Slow Start for Salvador Perez Regression or is Father Time Claiming another Player?

"El Capitán" has been one of the worst batters in baseball this season, can he turn it around?

May 4, 2026; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Royals designated hitter Salvador Perez (13) hits a one run single against the Cleveland Guardians in the fourth inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images | Denny Medley-Imagn Images

While the Royals have mostly gotten out of their early season offensive slumber, one slugger in the lineup is still struggling, Salvador Perez. The longtime face and icon of the franchise is off to one of his slowest starts to a season ever. Why has the now 36-yard-old backstop/DH stuggled and can he recover?

Starting with the basic numbers, "Salvy's" slash line is .191/.233/.322 for a paltry .555 OPS. Adding to this, his -0.8 fWAR is one of the worst tallies in the league. Throw in a wRC+ of 47 and an ISO of .132 and the concerns continue to grow. Let's dive a little deeper into the numbers to paint the picture of his season.

The Savant Page

When you look at Salvy's savant page there is a lot of blue, which is bad. The only numbers, batting-wise, he is average in is barrel rate and hard hit rate at 8.5% and 41.0%. Outside of those two numbers, every other stat has seen massive regression or stayed the same if we talk chase and walk-rates.

The plate discipline numbers don't show many major changes. He is making slightly less contact, whiffing slightly more, he is still chasing pitches way too much, and swinging at a similar rate. The biggest difference is something he sort of can't control and that is the amount of strikes he has seen. His zone% is 41.7, which is absurdly low and that is mostly due to the book being out on Salvy being a free swinger.

Denny Medley-Imagn Images

Going into his batted ball profile sees not many major changes, outside of one key number, his infield flyball-rate being 17.3%, which ties his career high in 2014. If we look at his pop-up rate alone, it stands at 10.3%. Those two numbers are key factors in his struggles this season, but there are many other numbers that are concerning.

The next of those numbers is what pitches he does well against. Looking at fastballs, as a whole, Salvy is still hitting them well at .269 and slugging them at .423. That is solid, but below his career averages. The struggles come against everything else as against breaking pitches (sliders and curves) he is hitting .115 and slugging .197. Against offspeed pitches (changeup and splitters), he is hitting .077 and slugging .308.

Separating the groups into individual pitches, Salvy's run value chart shows one pitch that isn't negative. That pitch is the sinker, which stands at a value of zero. He is hitting that pitch at a .316 clip and slugging it at .526. Against 4-seamers, he is hitting .250 and slugging them at a .409 clip and against cutters he is hitting .267 and slugging .333.

The pitches he is struggling with the most, however, are sliders and sweepers. He is hitting .143 and slugging .190 against sliders, and against its brother he is batting .056 and slugging .056. Throw in the fact that he is whiffing 38.3% and 46.5% of the time on those respective pitches. There aren't a ton of numbers that show positives for Salvy so far and the next topic will be the same.

Is the sore hip slowing down the bat or is it Father time? Plus his Splits

Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

Any Royals fan who has watched the recent broadcasts has heard something about Salvy playing through a sore hip. If he is playing through an injury, it has probably affected his swing and the numbers on the season have shown that. This is concerning, because many players over 30 lose bat speed and the numbers decline rapidly.

Looking at the bat tracking data, Perez has seen a slow down in his swing. In 2025, he swung at a 72.9 mph and this year he is a tick and a half down at 71.3 mph on his swing. Another big concern is that he isn't unleashing his fast swings at a high rate. His average, since 2023, for fast swing rate is around 30%, this year it is 14.6% which is a major factor in all the batted ball numbers taking a dive.

Salvy is also struggling badly against right handed pitchers this season, there is quite literally no hiding it. He is batting .178/.203/.280 for an OPS of .483 against righties. That is good for a 27 wRC+ so far this season. In his career, he is average against righties slashing .262/.297/.450 for an OPS of .747 and a wRC+ of 100. To say he has performed below his baseline in understating it.

Having some more fun with his splits, he has an absurd split against lefties on the road. The only above average split for Salvy sees him hitting .353/.389/.765 for an OPS of 1.154. In his only home/away split with an above average wRC+, it currently stands at 215.

Conclusion

The slow start for Salvador Perez mainly stems from his dip is fast-swing rate, swing speed, quality of contact, and his immense struggles against right handed pitchers. All the other numbers are within his career averages except those three things. The question truly lies in whether or not Salvy can bounce back from the slow start, because if he can't the Royals will have a tough situation if they keep batting him high in the lineup. It also resparks the idea of a Royals team without Salvy sooner rather than later.