Salvador Perez’s reputation in Major League Baseball precedes him.
Not only is Perez a nine-time All-Star, one of the greatest catchers of his generation, and the captain of the Kansas City Royals. He’s known far and wide as one of the most gregarious personalities in the big leagues, and one of the best ambassadors for the sport at large.
On Wednesday night, at Fenway Park, Perez showed just one more reason why he deserves those accolades.
Before the Royals faced off with the Boston Red Sox in the final game of a three-game set at Fenway Park, Boston’s rookie outfielder, Roman Anthony, inked an eight-year, $130 million extension. It was the largest guaranteed deal ever signed by a player with his rookie eligibility intact.
And although the Royals had lost the first two games of the series and are fighting for their playoff lives, Perez took the time to congratulate the 21-year-old on a serious accomplishment.
As Anthony walked to the plate in the first inning to a cheer from the Fenway Faithful, Perez appeared to offer his congratulations to Anthony, patting him on the shoulder. Anthony could be seen mouthing “thank you” as he readied himself for an at-bat against Royals starter Michael Wacha.
It was a moment that went viral on social media, as the clip shared by popular Red Sox internet personality Tyler Milliken had almost 9,000 likes as of early Thursday afternoon.
Looks like Salvador Perez was congratulating Roman Anthony on his extension. Classy. pic.twitter.com/qn0O89wGFl
— Tyler Milliken (@tylermilliken_) August 6, 2025
Then, Perez wound up contributing in a major way to a 7-3 Royals victory, smoking a single against Boston reliever Jordan Hicks that set the table for a three-run home run by Jonathan India that provided the knockout blow in the seventh inning.
Anthony, who has been fantastic in 47 games for the Red Sox so far, went 0-for-4, including a deep flyout to Royals right fielder Mike Yastrzemski that would have been a home run in all 29 other ballparks.
The Royals know they have a good one on their side in Perez, and that will surely come into play when they make their own contract decisions on whether to exercise his $13.5 million extension for 2026 (almost certainly yes) and whether to extend him again beyond that.
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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.si.com ’
