By J.Y. Montimer
KANSAS CITY, Mo.—The Kansas City Royals announced this afternoon that catcher Salvador Perez and right-handed pitcher Seth Lugo have been named Royals Player and Pitcher of the Month, respectively, for March/April. The awards are determined by a local media vote.
Perez ranked among American League leaders in several offensive categories through the first month of the season, including 1st in RBI (26) and batting average (.355), 2nd in OPS (1.013) and slugging percentage (.598), 3rd in on-base percentage (.415), tied for 4th in hits (38) and 5th in total bases (64). His 26 RBI were the 3rd most by a Royal in March/April in franchise history, behind only Jermaine Dye (28 RBI in 2000) and Dean Palmer (27 in 1998). On April 27, he recorded his 838th career RBI, breaking a tie with Mike Sweeney for the 5th-most RBI in Royals history. Through the end of the month, Perez led the team with 7 home runs, which tied for the 6th most in the AL, just 3 behind the leaders. He closed out the month with an active 20-game on-base streak—passing his previous career high of 17 games—and extended that to 21 straight games on Wednesday in Toronto. Over his 21-game run, he’s batting .366 (26-for-71) with 18 RBI and more walks (8) than strikeouts (4). In fact, he also carried another streak into the month of May, as he did not strike out in his final 32 straight plate appearances through the end of April. In Wednesday’s series finale in Toronto, he extended this streak to 36 plate appearances without a strikeout, which is the 2nd longest active streak in the Majors. Perez struck out just 13 times in 30 games through the end of April for an 11.0 K%, which was the 5th-best rate in the American League and less than half the 24.1 K% he posted over the last three seasons from 2021-23. This marks Perez’s eighth career monthly honor, which matches Billy Butler for the 4th most among Royals since the award was established in 1995, and he trails only Alex Gordon (13), Sweeney (13) and Eric Hosmer (11).
Lugo has been dominant to start the season, landing among American League leaders in wins (tied for 1st, 4), groundball double plays (tied for 3rd, 5) and innings (6th, 38.0) through the end of April. He added to these totals in his most recent start in Wednesday’s series-clinching win in Toronto, where he spun 7.0 innings of 1-run ball and earned his 5th win in 7 starts this season. Additionally, he pitched to a 1.66 ERA (7 ER in 38.0 IP) over 6 starts last month, which was the 5th-best mark among qualified AL pitchers, behind only Kutter Crawford (1.35), José Berríos (1.44), Tanner Houck (1.60) and Ronel Blanco (1.65). He was one of just eight pitchers who recorded at least 5 quality starts over the first month of the season, and his rate of 0.47 home runs allowed per 9.0 innings (2 HR in 38.0 IP) was the 9th lowest in the Majors (min. 6 GS), trailing leader Crawford (0 HR in 33.1 IP). Lugo’s 1.66 ERA through his 1st 6 outings marked the 5th lowest in a single season by a Royals pitcher in March/April (min. 35.0 IP), trailing only Zack Greinke in 2009 (0.50 ERA) and 2008 (1.25), Kevin Appier in 1992 (1.27) and Runelvys Hernández in 2003 (1.36). Three of his 6 starts were scoreless, including 6.0 shutout innings in his Royals debut on March 30 vs. Minnesota, his 3rd straight win with 7.0 scoreless innings on April 15 in Chicago vs. the White Sox and 7.0 scoreless frames with a career-high-tying 9 strikeouts in his final outing of the month on April 26 in Detroit. The nine-year Major League veteran signed a two-year free agent contract with Kansas City last Dec. 14 after spending the 2023 season with San Diego.
COURTESY ROYALS MEDIA RELATIONS
