Salvador Perez rejoins Royals’ spring training camp after being cleared of COVID-19
All-Star catcher Salvador Perez cleared Major League Baseball’s health and safety protocols and rejoined the Royals Tuesday.
The Royals activated Perez, who had gone on baseball’s injured list on July 4 after testing positive for COVID-19, before their Tuesday evening intrasquad game at Kauffman Stadium. Perez had been in isolation in Lee’s Summit since testing positive for the coronavirus. He had not been with the club since the start of spring training 2.0.
The Royals went into the week with all three catchers currently on their 40-man roster inactive. Perez and backup catcher Cam Gallagher were placed on the IL following positive coronavirus tests. Meibrys Viloria, who caught games at the major-league level late in the season in 2018 and 2019, is on the IL with an undisclosed injury.
A six-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glove Award winner, Perez missed all of last season while rehabbing from March 2019 Tommy John surgery on his throwing elbow.
He participated in the team’s intrasquad scrimmage Tuesday night. He hit a single up the middle off right-hander Jakob Junis in his first at-bat.
This story was originally published July 14, 2020 at 6:26 PM with the headline "Salvador Perez rejoins Royals’ spring training camp after being cleared of COVID-19."
