Salvador

He had an unexpectedly awesome rookie season. Just a year prior he was a 20 year old catcher hitting .287/.322/.476 in high A and at the time his rookie season looked a good two or three years away. A hot start to the next season, however, accelerated his timeline and late in the summer he found himself having his way with big league pitching, hitting a healthy .345/.357/.490 in 154 plate appearances. But enough about Pablo Sandoval, let's talk about Salvador Perez.

It's hard not to notice the similarities of the two players. Last year for high A Wilmington Perez hit .290/.322/.411 as a 20 year old. He split time between NW Arkansas and Omaha this season before being promoted to Kansas City where he would finish an impressive rookie campaign with a .331/.361/.473 triple slash line.

Here is the direct comparison between the two rookie seasons.

Player	PA	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS+	brWAR
Sandoval	154	10	1	3	24	4	14	.345	.357	.490	118	0.9
Perez	158	8	2	3	21	7	20	.331	.361	.473	129	1.1

Positional comparisons end at the big league level since Sandoval was moved off catcher almost immediately but offensively they were pretty similar. Sandoval has gone on to become a force at the plate putting up a 130 OPS+ since his rookie season. Now I can't really see Perez matching that but I can see him matching someone else who came out hitting out of the gate.

Since 1970 nine players in their first season have hit .330 or better in 150+ plate appearances. It's an odd mix of Hall of Famers, flash in the pans and solid, if not spectacular, contributors.

Rk	Player	Year	BA	PA
1	Rennie Stennett	1971	.353	165
2	Luis Salazar	1980	.337	183
3	Wade Boggs	1982	.349	381
4	Frank Thomas	1990	.330	240
5	Bret Barberie	1991	.353	162
6	Bill Mueller	1996	.330	228
7	Ichiro Suzuki	2001	.350	738
8	Pablo Sandoval	2008	.345	154
9	Salvador Perez	2011	.331	158

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I don't think he'll put up numbers like Boggs, Thomas, Suzuki and Sandoval going forward but I don't think he'll tank like Stennett, Salazar and Barberie either. That leaves us with Mueller who finished his career with a .291 average and 109 OPS+, numbers attainable by Perez though truthfully I don't think his batting average will be that high.

Realistically Perez will earn his keep with his glove and arm. He's been so good on offense that I almost forgot that he picked two runners off base in his major league (side note - it happened in the game that the Rays scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 9th to win, sorry Boston). It seems likely that Perez will never hit .330 over the course of a full season but his approach at the plate was impressive enough that I believe he will flirt with .300 a few times. I also expect that he'll have a few seasons where he hits .250 with an on-base percentage south of .300, I guess basically I expect him to be Mike Aviles.

He's just 21 and has only 158 career plate appearances so I realize I'm getting way ahead of myself here but the season's over and everyone knows that the offseason is the domain of speculations and projections.

Least Favorite Day Of The Year

If Opening Day should be a federal holiday then the final game of the season should be a national day of mourning. The day the regular season comes to an end is probably my least favorite day of the year because for the last two and a half decades it has meant the end of baseball in Kansas City. (Hopefully that changes sometimes in the next few years.)

The end of this season is more depressing than usual because the Royals have played pretty good ball the last couple months. Of course I realize 2011 has to end before meaningful baseball can be played in 2012 but that doesn't make it any easier.

20/20

Rk	Player	Year	HR	SB
1	Amos Otis	1978	22	32
2	Bo Jackson	1988	25	27
3	Bo Jackson	1989	32	26
4	Carlos Beltran	1999	22	27
5	Carlos Beltran	2001	24	31
6	Carlos Beltran	2002	29	35
7	Carlos Beltran	2003	26	41
8	Jeff Francoeur	2011	20	22

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With his 20th home run tonight Jeff Francoeur became just the fourth Royal in history to post a 20/20 season.

Anyone who says they saw this coming is a liar.

And Now, Leading Off for the Kansas City Royals...

..?

Alex Gordon has been nothing short of terrific this year. He's been amazing at home; he's been solid on the road. His May was around the previously known Gordonian levels, but his other months have mostly been around the newly known Gordonian levels. He has a nice blend of speed and power.

But he's not a lead-off hitter. Going by the man's size and the number of CS, says to me that he has too much more power than speed for him to be a lead-off hitter. As the first hitter of the game, he's hit .286/.326/.560. The first number is pretty good, the second is barely ok-ish but the last number is gargantuan. He's started a game with the longball 5 times. It's always a positive to start the game off on the right foot, but his 13 XBHs to start off a game are...well, not wasteful, but less efficient? If he had a batter or two that were good at getting on in front of him... He started off the season barely walking and that trait has continued when leading off the game.

A lead off hitter needs to be someone getting on at any cost, and a .326 isn't getting it done often enough.

If Alcides Escobar was just a bit better than this guy instead of being this guy, our question would have its answer (and we'd have a HUGE star for this new era). But at this point in time, he's not a bit better than that guy.

Lorenzo Cain just posted his best power year since his days in ROOKIE ball and he stole at an unacceptable rate this year. Not to mention due to the most unlikely breakouts of the year, we really don't know what Cain's future currently holds in Kansas City. He has the opportunity to be a premium athlete playing a premium position with a plus bat, but with Royals loaded with so much talent, it's been hard to make room for Cain. The way Ned Yost "uses" (or doesn't use) his bench and with our rotational needs, makes Cain a waste as a fourth outfielder.

Do we have any good candidates to replace Gordon?

What I'd really like to see out of our lead off hitter is a guy that can hit .275/.360/.400 and steal around 30 bases with like 5 toss outs. Is this asking for too much?

In my opinion, this is like the fourth most important thing of the offseason after:
1. Pitching
2. Pitching
3. Pitching

Teaford

Before Francis was signed and Chen was brought back I was campaigning for Everett Teaford to land one of the rotation spots. To be fair I didn't mind the Francis and Chen signings because I felt they could be serviceable innings eaters, which they have been. But now I wonder if the 2012 team wouldn't have been best served by giving Teaford 30 starts this year just to see how he'd do. He has looked good in relief and he tossed 5 shutout innings in his first major league start yesterday (true it was against the Mariners but it still counts as a major league start). His two appearances prior to his start he pitched 3 and 2.2 innings and gave up a combined 1 hit and 0 runs.

I imagine he is a longshot to make the 2012 rotation, unless Moore fails to land another starter via trade or free agency. If Adcock starts the season in Omaha - like many expect - Teaford would be a natural to inherit his long relief/spot starter role.