Royals’ young pitchers benefiting from having Salvador Perez as a security blanket
Royals rookie right-hander Brady Singer faced a pivotal moment in the fifth inning of his first career start at Progressive Field against the Cleveland Indians.
With the game tied, go-ahead run on second base, Jose Ramirez at the plate with a full count and star shortstop Francisco Lindor chomping at the bit on deck, catcher Salvador Perez walked to the mound and asked Singer what he wanted to throw.
Singer opted for the fastball and blew the 94 mph heater past Ramirez, who tried unsuccessfully to stop his swing mid-stream. It was the third out of the inning, Singer’s seventh strikeout of his debut performance and an emphatic exclamation point on his first outing in the big leagues.
That seemingly innocuous interaction between a catcher and a young pitcher — something much more fundamental and intangible than pitch-framing — serves as but one sample of the comfort the five-time Gold Glove award winner provides has batterymates.
He’s a confidante, advisor and security blanket as the Royals infuse their rotation with a youth movement spearheaded by rookie starters Kris Bubic and Singer.
“When I was a veteran catcher getting a young pitcher for the first time, I made sure that he knew the very best thing that he could do for me was to shake his head,” said Royals manager Mike Matheny, who won four Gold Gloves as a catcher. “I need you to pitch your game and trust the fact that if we get into a big situation I’m not going to let you do anything stupid.”
Matheny viewed it as his responsibility to pick up on what the pitchers liked to do. If they ran into a tough spot, he’d call timeout and they’d talk through it.
Matheny’s main objective was always to let his young hurler, whose adrenaline and emotion was no doubt swirling, know that he didn’t have to take all the data provided by the coaching staff, process it like some kind of robot and spit out a great game plan.
Instead, he’d tell his teammate, it was simply time to “do what you do.”
Perez, back behind the plate on a regular basis this season after missing last season due to Tommy John surgery, gives the Royals an added advantage as they expose a pair of pitchers with relatively limited experience in the minors to their initial taste of the big leagues.
Singer made just 26 starts in the minors before his MLB debut and skipped Triple-A completely, while Bubic never threw a pitch in game action above the Single-A level.
In three starts, Singer has gone 0-1 with a 4.80 ERA with 18 strikeouts, six walks and a 1.27 WHIP in 15 innings.
Bubic, in two appearances, is 0-2 with a 3.60 ERA, nine strikeouts, three walks and a 1.00 WHIP in 10 innings.
When asked about the biggest adjustment he noticed after his first two major-league starts, Singer said, “I would probably say the focus.
“Now obviously, you focus every game as much as you can. But here in the big leagues you can’t get away with just kind of going up nonchalant and, you know, kind of throwing it up there. So the focus has been huge, every single pitch for the whole entire outing. Then sitting in between innings and figuring out what they did last at-bat.”
Singer showed himself to be a student of the game and highly prepared during his time in the minors. Even now, he keeps detailed notes about each of his performances. He has that notebook with him in the dugout during games.
Having a catcher with nine years in the big leagues, who helped guide a staff through a World Series championship run, has only benefited Singer as he’s made this leap forward to the majors.
“He’s really been incredible through this whole process,” Singer said of Perez. “He’s made it a lot easier on me, that’s for sure. It’s just his experience of not only catching in the big leagues, but also hitting.
“He can take a hitter’s perspective while catching, so he’s helped me tremendously. I lean on him, basically, for everything. If I don’t feel comfortable with something or I don’t understand or I forget the scouting report during an at-bat, I have no doubt that he knows what’s going on and he can help me through it.”
Bubic, who battled nerves and erratic throws in his first start, pointed to an even more fundamental aspect of Perez’s presence behind the plate.
“He sets up really well,” Bubic said. “For me, the catcher visual and how a catcher receives is huge, especially me considering myself a guy who is able to command corners for the most part. He was great back there, really staying with me and really emphasizing where he wanted certain pitches in certain counts.”
Bubic, a left-hander and former Stanford ace, explained that a seemingly small thing like the way Perez presented the target made him lock in and focus on executing pitches in specific locations. That helped him get through the first two innings despite his jitters.
In his second start, Bubic held the National League’s best team, the Chicago Cubs, to two runs over six innings and he struck out six.
Bubic turned in a quality start against a lineup that features several premier players, including former MVP Kris Bryant and former All-Stars Anthony Rizzo, Javier Báez and Jason Heyward.
Báez struck out looking, singled and grounded into a double play against Bubic. After the game, he praised Bubic ... and Perez.
“He’s got really good stuff,” Báez said. “He’s got a great catcher behind the plate, so I look at it the same way I play when we play the Cardinals. You’ve got to play against the pitcher and against the catcher because they know the game.
“They are this good for a reason. So, he was really tough.”
Perez’s presence is critical as the Royals usher in talented but inexperienced young arms — with more likely on the horizon.
This story was originally published August 7, 2020 at 2:23 PM with the headline "Royals’ young pitchers benefiting from having Salvador Perez as a security blanket."
