Royals star Salvador Perez out of lineup with sore elbow

The Kansas City Royals are dealing with yet another injury to a star player.

Now it’s their longtime captain, Salvador Perez.

Manager Matt Quatraro on Thursday shared that Perez has a sore right elbow. The Royals held Perez out of the starting lineup in their series finale against the Tampa Bay Rays at Kauffman Stadium.

“He came in yesterday with a little bit of a sore elbow,” Quatraro said. “He was already playing first yesterday, so he was able to manage that. And then today (we) just had to have some protection in case he’s unable to catch.”

To fill the void, the Royals selected catcher Luke Maile from Triple-A Omaha. They also optioned outfielder John Rave and designated right-handed reliever Eric Cerantola for assignment.

For now, the Royals will operate with three catchers. Maile will back up rookie sensation Carter Jensen until Perez is healthy enough to return to duty.

If Perez needs additional time to recover, Nick Loftin and Josh Rojas can back up Jac Caglianone at first base. With Vinnie Pasquantino on the IL (broken bone in hand), Caglianone is now the Royals’ starting first baseman.

“Just right now,” Perez said of his prognosis, “we are trying to gather more information as to what’s going on.”

Perez has struggled at the plate this year. He’s hitting just .201 with 10 home runs and 30 RBIs.

In his last five games, he’s 4-for-20 with eight strikeouts. He also played four of those five games at first base.

The Royals are plenty familiar with Maile. He produced a .702 OPS (on-base plus slugging) in 25 games last season during call-ups from the Class AAA Storm Chasers.

Perez’s health is the immediate concern. The Royals will continue to evaluate him over the next few days to see how he progresses.

“We have the off-day tomorrow and the night game on Saturday,” Quatraro said. “So we’ll see where Salvy is come Saturday. But Carter, if Salvy is not catching, Carter will get the majority of (the starts at catcher).”

Jensen was to bat leadoff Thursday night. He had a 20-game hitting streak going until he went 0-for-4 in Wednesday’s loss to the Rays.

Pasquantino and Perez aren’t the only injured Royals. But third baseman Maikel Garcia (left-hand muscle strain) and outfielder Kyle Isbel (plantar fasciitis in left foot) are showing steady progression.

Starting pitchers Cole Ragans and Kris Bubic, however, will be sidelined for a significant period of time. Ragans underwent UCL surgery on his left elbow Wednesday. He is expected to miss 10–12 months.

Bubic recently received a cortisone injection in his injured shoulder. The Royals expect him to remain shut down for 7-10 days before being built back up again.

Other notable injured Royals include Nick Mears (right-shoulder impingement), Jonathan India (left-shoulder surgery) and Connor Seabold (right lat strain).