KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For the second consecutive season, Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez has been selected to the All-MLB Team.
The awards, which were created in 2019, were announced Tuesday on the MLB Network.
Perez tied for the major-league lead, tied the Royals’ record and broke the all-time record for home runs by a player who primarily played catcher with 48 bombs last season. He was selected to the first team each of the last two years.
Perez’s 200 career home runs are second in club history behind only Hall of Famer George Brett (317).
Perez is the first Royals player to lead the majors in home runs in a season. Jorge Soler, who established the club record with 48 home runs in 2019, led the American League but only finished third in the big leagues that season.
Perez also led the majors with 121 RBIs in 2021 — joining Hal McRae, who had a league-best 133 RBIs in 1982, as the only Kansas City players to do so.
Only six players in the last 30 years have led the big leagues in home runs and RBIs in the same season — Alex Rodriguez (2002, 2007), Ryan Howard (2006, 2008), Miguel Cabrera (2012), Chris Davis (2013) and Giancarlo Stanton (2017).
Perez is only the second catcher to pull off the feat, joining former Cincinnati catcher and Hall of Famer Johnny Bench (1970, 1972).
Perez also won his fourth Silver Slugger and fifth Gold Glove last season, while being selected to his seventh All-Star Game.
After a fan vote, a panel of select media members, broadcasters, former players and “other officials throughout the game” determine the first and second teams.
Perez was selected from a group of seven finalists. San Francisco’s Buster Posey was picked for the second team.
The other finalists were the Chicago Cubs’ Wilson Contreras, the Chicago White Sox’s Yasmani Grandal, Philadelphia’s J.T. Realmuto, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Will Smith and Tampa Bay’s Mike Zunino.
