What Do the Projections Say?
When it comes to hitter projections, there are three that seem to provide the best picture of a hitter’s outlook: ZiPS, THE BAT X, and PECOTA. ZiPS and THE BAT X can be found on FanGraphs, while PECOTA is exclusive to Baseball Prospectus.
When it came to looking at what metrics to use to compare, standard 5×5 categories for fantasy baseball, minus stolen bases, made the most sense for Salvy. That includes average, runs, home runs, and RBI.
Here’s a breakdown of each of those projections for Perez in 2026 (including projected plate appearances).
- ZiPS: 575 PA, .246 average, 52 R, 24 HR, and 80 RBI.
- THE BAT X: 576 PA, .250 average, 65 R, 29 HR, and 92 RBI.
- PECOTA: 594 PA, .253 average, 70 R, 23 HR, and 81 RBI.
PECOTA and THE BAT X were the most optimistic when it came to batting average, as both expected Salvy to hit .250 or above. ZiPS was pretty optimistic with home runs, with 24, despite having the fewest projected plate appearances of the three.
THE BAT X had the best overall projections for Perez, especially in terms of home runs (29) and RBI (92).
Thus, the projections expect Salvy to be a hitter who can continue to lead this Royals offense in 2026, especially in the cleanup or No. 5 spot in the batting order, which was the case a season ago.
Final Thoughts on Salvy
With his age, there will be concerns about Salvy, especially given his playing such a tough position. However, it seems like manager Matt Quatraro has pushed the right buttons by balancing Salvy’s playing time among catcher, designated hitter, and first base.
Last year, Perez caught 761.2 innings behind the plate, which was 3.1 innings fewer than his mark in 2024. That number could be even lower in 2026, especially with the emergence of Carter Jensen, the Royals’ top prospect.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.justbaseball.com ’
