The term “safe Hall of Famer” and the name Salvador Pérez have been linked for years, but is that accurate? Should they be?
As I mentioned in my previous article about Zack Greinke’s induction into the Hall of Fame, bad teams need to find a way to sell tickets.
A popular way to do this for an MLB team is to focus their marketing efforts on their best player and throw in hyperbole.
Of course, this wouldn’t work if the player wasn’t good. But when a player gets older, has a long streak of success, or just plays for a long time, “surely a Hall of Famer” or “next stop, Cooperstown” practically rolls off the tongue.
Just like your local meteorologist, no one remembers their prediction from yesterday, let alone a week ago.
Because who is going to verify the facts?
Am.
And that’s why this article exists: to explore the baseball Hall of Fame candidacy of Royals catcher Salvador Pérez, also known as SALVY.
I will use the exact criteria that the Baseball Hall of Fame uses. Here’s the fine print from the Baseball Hall of Fame website:
Voting: Voting will be based on the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contributions to the team on which he played.
It’s definitely a nebulous definition. So let’s look at each aspect of Perez’s case as best we can.
Player registration: As of this writing (8/22/25), Salvador Pérez is playing in his 14th season (he missed all of 2020 due to injury, when people thought he was cooked).
During those 14 seasons, Pérez accumulated 295 home runs, 987 RBIs, 1,687 hits and a career .266 batting average.
He has more home runs than walks (266)!
Pérez appeared in the 2014 World Series, where the Giants beat the Royals in seven games. The Royals won the World Series in 2015 and Salvy was named World Series MVP.
But how do you quantify his effect on games as a receiver? We’ll talk about that later.
game skill:
– 9× All-Star Game (2013–2018, 2021, 2023, 2024)
– World Series Champion (2015)
– World Series MVP (2015)
– 2 × First Team All-MLB (2020, 2021)
– Second team All-MLB (2024)
– 5× Gold Glove Award (2013–2016, 2018)
– 5× Silver Bat Award (2016, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2024)
– American League Comeback Player of the Year (2020)
– Roberto Clemente Award (2024)
– MLB home run co-leader (2021)
– MLB RBI leader (2021)
– Most home runs by a catcher, single season (48 in 2021)
Integrity, sportsmanship, character: I’m grouping all of these together because it’s a bunch of salad-words/synonyms that your third-grade English teacher would be proud of you knowing are synonyms.
Have you ever seen Salvy on the baseball diamond without a smile on his face? Gregarious.
Every time he plays, it seems like the best time of his life. Pure joy. Laugh with teammates, coaches, opposing teams and even the referees.
Which is really saying something because the Royals have had 5 seasons out of their 14 where they finished at .500 or better. And he made the postseason only three times.
For a broader perspective, the Royals have lost more than 100 games in three seasons during that same span. The Royals’ combined record in 2018 and 2019 was 117-207.
If he was ever going to complain, it would have happened already. He has never complained about his contract or resisted. He has never gotten into trouble off the field.
As nebulous as it may be, Salvy checks all the boxes in the “Integrity, Sportsmanship, Character” section.
Contributions to the team: Is there another MLB player more synonymous with your team? Salvy IS royalty.
The only player who is even close is Aaron Judge/Yankees and that is due to New York’s position as the largest media market. And he has never suffered a season below .500.
Salvy has played in three postseasons, a total of 37 games. He has accumulated 32 hits, 6 home runs, 15 RBIs and batted .229. Plus, the 2015 World Series Most Valuable Player award in a winning effort.
His 295 career home runs are second in Royals franchise history only to Hall of Famer George Brett (317). 987 RBIs rank fourth behind Amos Otis (992), Hal McRae (1,012) and Brett (1,596).
His 20 games with multiple home runs are a club record. 9 seasons of 20+ home runs is a club record. 28.6 Offensive His WAR is the fifth highest in franchise history. 699 runs scored is 8th most, 1 run behind Mike Sweeney.
His position player WAR of 34.8 is tied for fifth with Frank White. His 13.7 defensive WAR is second only to Frank White (21.9).
Furthermore, how is his status as “The Captain” quantified? How many pitchers have you improved, for an AB or for an entire career?
How many times has your baseball intelligence and attention to nuance led to a positive outcome that otherwise would not have occurred?
This is the effect that a great catcher has beyond any other position on the baseball field.
Salvador Pérez Hall of Fame Player Comparisons
At this point it’s clear: Salvador Pérez is clearly a top 10 player in Royals history, and probably top 5.
But how does he compare historically to the best catchers in MLB history?
– Ranks eighth all-time in home runs (295) and is 12 behind “The Kid” Gary Carter (307).
– Ranks 15th in RBIs (987) and 3 RBIs behind Ernie Lombardi (990).
– Ranks 29th all-time in games (1,641).
– Ranks 22nd all-time in races (699).
– He is 19th in hits (1,687).
– He is 15th in doubles (314).
– 11th in hits by pitches (92).
– 6th in strikeouts (1,252).
There are 20 catchers in the MLB Hall of Fame. Which is the second fewest by position players, only surpassed by third basemen (19).
I’m going to use the following sentences to compare Salvy to Joe Mauer of the Twins.
Mauer played 15 seasons, one more than Salvy’s current 14th/2025 season. So, the most appropriate comparison we can make.
Mauer was the most recent catcher inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame (2024).
Actually I was wrong, all it took was a graph. Is Salvador Pérez really a Hall of Famer? Based on this graph comparing it to Mauer, YEAH.
Before Mauer, Ted Simmons was inducted into the HOF in 2020. For Salvy fans, this is a bit more sobering.
Simmons had a remarkable career that spanned 20 seasons. Not bad for a kid from Omaha, Nebraska, who went to Millard South High School, which is about 1.5 miles from where I’m writing this right now.
If Salvy fell dead Right now, he would have the edge over Simmons in the most important categories: home runs, slugging, team achievements and success. I was joking about slugging.
As it stands, if you were to pit Simmons against Salvy head-to-head with other Baseball Sickos, you’d probably see the vote split 50/50.
Salvy has extended his career by becoming a legitimate first baseman. Watching him this season, it’s easy to estimate that he’ll play at least two more seasons.
If you do that, you’ll start racking up more and more offensive stats.
Which voters love and people can easily point to as another “yes” factor, thanks to catcher being viewed as historically low in offensive numbers in the context of other positions.
But when you include Mauer, who rightfully lowered the bat…err, the bar for catcher inclusion in the Hall of Fame, that makes Salvy an absolute, no doubt, Hall of Famer.
If you want to be blown away, check out “Carlton’s Fisk”:
OMG LOOK AT THE HOSE NUMBERS!!
In closing, YES, Salvador Pérez should be in the Hall of Fame.
