Why Kansas City Royals icon Salvador Perez says he still feels ‘amazing’ at age 33

When Sal Perez was a 15-year-old who fancied himself a shortstop or third baseman, then-Royals scout Juan Indriago observed him in a group workout at a military base in Valencia, Venezuela.

Just before the 2005 tryout was ending, Perez recently recalled, Indriago called out to him:

“’Hey, you. Throw from behind home plate.’”

Some minutes after watching him catch, Indriago told Perez, “‘Work one year behind the home plate, and we’re going to come back and see you.’”

Gazing back now, Indriago may just as well have not thought to point Perez that way; Perez could well have resisted the advice and clung to his infield ambitions.

“He saw something that I didn’t see at that age,” Perez said as he sat at his locker in the Royals’ spring training clubhouse a couple weeks ago. “Nobody sees it. I appreciate him. Thank God.”

And those are just a few of the ways Perez’s iconic, still-flourishing Royals career just seems meant to have been as the team prepares for Thursday’s season opener at Kauffman Stadium

“I agree with you,” Perez said, smiling,

That apparent indulgence of fate started with Perez taking Indriago’s guidance to heart. And with the Royals indeed returning a year later and being dazzled by what they saw — and not just because a German Shepherd happened to break away from a military guard and chase Perez into the fastest 60-yard dash he ever ran.

Standing at the finish line with a stopwatch, longtime Royals scout Orlando Estevez remembered thinking, “‘Oh, my God, he’s going to get bit by a dog.’”

But that fleeting burst of speed wasn’t why Estevez and Royals vice president Rene Francisco, then head of international operations, saw a glimpse of the future and signed Perez later that day for $65,000.

“I was crazy about him,” Estevez, instrumental in the dynamics, said by phone. “Everything about the kid … You get that hunch.”

Just the same, Estevez concedes they couldn’t possibly have envisioned Perez remaining a franchise cornerstone nearly 20 years since the Royals first saw him.

Somehow, Perez still is as — if not more — buoyant as ever despite the inherent toll of so many years primarily behind the plate.

You could literally hear that distinct voice and laughter and playfulness coming down the hall at the Royals Rally at The K in February and affirmed upon his arrival in the interview room when he started asking reporters about their own offseasons.

Then, asked how he was feeling physically, Perez flashed that fabulous, infectious smile and said, “Amazing. Unbelievable. I feel great. How do I look?”

In the same spirit, he’s still the loudest and most encouraging voice in the dugout and clubhouse, still one of the first to arrive every morning, still seeking to get better.

“Oh, it’s extremely visible to the other guys,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “You can’t help but notice him or hear him or see him. He is the captain for a reason, and he’s the kind of guy that people feed off of.”

In a sense, that’s an evergreen statement about Perez, a World Series MVP, eight-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glove winner who ranks second in franchise history in home runs (246 to George Brett’s 317).

But there’s also something a little extra to this just now for Perez.

And it ties back to his appreciation of his deep roots with the Royals — a connection nicely embodied in the fact that any time he sees Estevez, a longtime father figure, he still kisses him on the cheek and says, “Thank you.”

A year ago, though, his abiding sense of being a forever Royal was scrambled. Which is to say his very identity was in flux.

After all, Perez already had been with the organization for more than half his life from mid-adolescence on.

If the relationship with the franchise and Kansas City didn’t quite have the depth of his attachment to his mother and grandmother, who labored endlessly to raise him in harsh and perilous circumstances, it nonetheless had made for his haven and habitat his entire adult life.

And with the Royals sputtering on their way to a 56-106 record, tying the worst in franchise history, Perez was distressed by the futility and the increasing prospect of being traded.

Sure, he had so-called “10 and 5 rights,” meaning his 10 years in the majors and five-plus with one team gave him the leeway to veto any trade. But Perez also was hungry to win again before the end of his career, which he knows could end in the next few years, and understood that a worthy trade also could benefit the Royals in the long run.

So he churned and lost sleep over the possibility. And he talked often with his mother and wife about what to do, considering the interest reported to be coming out of the Marlins, Padres and White Sox.

“It was kind of rough,” he said.

Ultimately, though, that led to clarity.

Perez wanted to finish his career in Kansas City, where he hopes to remain with a new contract after his current one that runs through 2025 followed by a $13.5 million club option for 2026 or $2 million buyout.

But he also wanted to know the Royals would vigorously strive to make the team better.

All the soul-searching and reassurance, Perez said, led to his call before the trade deadline to J.J. Picollo, the team’s executive vice president of baseball operations and general manager:

“‘J.J., I don’t want to go nowhere,’” Perez remembered saying. “‘Please leave me here.’”

The decision was rewarded in the offseason. Picollo and the Royals made good on the commitment to an extreme makeover by spending the fourth-most money in MLB on free agents and radically upgrading their pitching.

The club also made another momentous statement by giving a long-term contract worth nearly $300 million guaranteed to Bobby Witt Jr., whom Perez believes is on his way to becoming one of the few best players in franchise history.

With all that percolating, Perez has been strikingly invigorated this spring — a reminder of the sheer force of personality of a young man who says his persona comes from his mother’s resilience and view of him as a child.

“So I think I told myself, ‘I’m a happy guy,’” he said, smiling.

Now he’s trying to funnel that fuel into a return to the playoffs. And he’s all the more consumed with sharing what he’s learned about attitude and work ethic over the years in a clubhouse that remains full of young players, even with the recent veteran infusion.

Having the captain’s “C” on his chest, he suggested, makes it even more his duty “to show the younger guys.”

One of his own models for that was the relentlessness of Alex Gordon.

“I got that from Alex,” he said. “I hope somebody gets that from me.”

But that’s just one of the things so many draw from Perez, who like us cherishes anew that it seemed his destiny to be a Royal.

“Every time I wear my uniform, that’s motivation for me,” he said. “I have to enjoy, because I know one day it’s going to be gone. So I play every game like it’s my last one.”

All the more so because he’s still with the ones who saw something in him that he didn’t even see in himself at first.