As the Royals drought prolongs, I’ve found myself wondering, why?  Why is this team so bad when they weren’t so bad before the all-star break?

Answer:  Salvedor Perez

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I REALLY like Salvador Perez.  A LOT.  But there is much to his game that is still developing.  Two key areas includes getting completed down on the ground and smothering a ball in the dirt rather than jumping up and pitch selection.  I’ve seen too many balls get by Perez as of late.  I decided to look at a few big run innings against the Royals and see what exactly is being called and where he’s setting up.

1) Too many first pitch fastballs, regardless of who the hitter is.  These guys are major league hitters for a reason.  If they weren’t capable of hitting a fastball, then they wouldn’t be in the lineup.

I broke down a few innings of work and here are the rough numbers I was able to come up with.  75% of his pitcher’s first pitches first pitch fastballs.  What’s a hitter thinking when they get up there?  If it’s a strike, swing because it’s almost always a fastball.  What do you think happens after that?

2) All to often I see Perez sitting up in the middle of the plate rather than to one side or the other.  Again, these are major league pitchers and if Perez has such poor confidence in the pitchers hitting their spots, they shouldn’t be pitching in the big leagues.  Hit your spot or go home.  PERIOD.

3)  Setting up a hitter simply isn’t happening.  The Royals pitchers are seemingly batting practice and I think it’s because the hitters aren’t being fooled well enough.  The only time a hitter looks fooled is when Perez calls for a pitcher to throw a pitch that accidentally breaks the “norm” of what he has been calling.

4) Repetitive pitch calling is killing the starter’s chances of getting outs.  It seems Perez get’s stuck in the mindset of throwing the same pitch until they finally it it.  And that includes throwing the same pitch in the same spot.  He also calls fastballs in bunches as
63% of called his fastballs are followed by a second fastball (includes third to fourth pitch being fastballs as well…ex Pitch 1 F  and Pitch 2F, then Pitch 3 fastball and Pitch 4 fastball).  On top of that, I’ve seen him call the same inside curveballrepetively on a hitter just because the hitter misses the first one, rather than setting up the hitter to strike out on it in the end.  I feel like the art of pitching has been lost in an effort to keep pitch count down.  Screw that.  I’ll sacrifice a starting pitcher from being about to go one more inning in order to have him give up less runs and have a better pitching day mentally.  This approach has happened multiple times, and the most recent at-bat I can think of was on July 26th against the Mariners with Carlos Peguero at the plate.

Pitch 1: Changeup with movement away, FOUL
Pitch 2: Fastball Down and in, ball
Pitch 3: Curveball WAY inside, Peguero swung at a bad pitch
Pitch 4: Curveball inside again, Peguero swung, just missed it
Pitch 5: Curveball AGAIN, Perez set up middle of the plate, and guess what he did…hit a double and got an RBI out of it.

This HAS GOT TO CHANGE.

The Royals have two immediate options.  Call pitches from now on, boy won’t that get old for every batter or have someone else catch regularly.  I think they should just bring Jason Kendall in as a bench coach and have him call pitches all day.  He’d love it and it’d keep Kendall involved with the game.  Plus, that would then give Kendall the ability to work with Perez on a daily basis for blocking pitches in the dirt.

Finally, all too often Perez finds himself set up in the middle of the plate, especially when the pitcher is ahead or even with the count.  Through the three or four innings I re-watched, I noticed Perez setting up in the middle of the plate, pitch after pitch, and I even notated it a few times in the notes following this column.

July 22nd, Bottom of 2nd Inning Vs. Twings

Ryan Doumit
Fastball, away, ball
Fastball, away, strike
Curveball, middle of plate, hung (set up middle of plate), Homerun
1/1

Brian Dozier
Fastball, middle down, ball
Fastball, down, middle, F7
2/2

Alexi Casilla
Fastball, set up middle, down, ball
Fastball cutter, set up middle, away, strike
Fastball, down, ball
Fastball, down, swung strike
Curveball, down
Curveball, inside, strike 3 call
4/4

Drew Butera
Curveball, up, ball
Fastball outside, ball
Fastball inside, F7
5/5

Jamey Carroll
Outside (late camera did not see pitch), strike
Curveball, outside, ball
Curveball, set up middle, ended up outside, ball
Fastball, set up middle, ended middle, foul
Fastball, set up inside, ended inside, Single
6/6

Denard Span
Fastball cutter inside, strike
Fastball cutter outside, strike
Fastball outside OFF THE PLATE, swing K
7/7

Ben Revere
Fastball outside middle, strike
Curveball inside, ball
Fastball Cutter outside, ball
Fastball up and out, ball
Fastball up, ball, walk
8/9

Joe Mauer
Fastball middle, down, strike
Curveball, set up middle, ended outside, strike
Fastball Set up in side on the hands and up, hit spot, foul
Curveball inside, foul
Fastball outside off, ball
Curveball set up inside, ended inside in the dirt, ball
Curveball set up inside, ended inside and in the dirt, ball
Fastball away, foul
Curveball down, ended outside, ball
8/13

Josh Willingham
Fastball cutter middle of plate, F6

Ryan Doumit
Fastball middle, strike
Fastball outside, single
9/14

Brian Dozier
Curveball in the dirt, ball
Fastball down, ball
Fastball outside, strike
Curveball inside, Double
10/15

Alexia Casilla
Curveball middle down, 3-1

July 25th, Bottom of the First Inning Vs. Angels
Mike Trout
Fastball, down and away, ball
Fastball, down and away, ball
Fastball, middle of plate, strike
Fastball, started middle ended inside part of the plate (a ball length), double
12/17

Tori Hunter
Fastball, outside, foul
Fastball, inside, bunt foul
Curveball, Outside middle (left it up), single
13/18

Mark Trumbo
Fastball Cutter, inside, Strike
Curveball, Outside…Off the plate, Wild Pitch Strike
Same pitch, Curveball outside, base-hit–waist high strike
13/19

Kendrys Morales
Fastball Cutter, away–hit to 1B

Alberto Callaspo
Fastball, down away Ball
Fastball, away, double
14/20

Howard Kendrick
Curveball, away, ball
Curveball, away, strike
Fastball, middle -in–F7

Maicer Izturis
Fastball Up and in, Strike
Curveball, Middle of plate, StrikeCurveball, inside, foul
Fastball outside, ball
Curveball middle of plate
If it were me, I would have brushed him off the plate, then gone back with a curveball but outside
14/22

Not once the entire inning did Perez set up OFF the plate when ahead of the hitter, especially for 0-2

Bottom of 2nd Inning
Peter Bourjos
Fastball Inside, strike
Curveball outside, ball
Fastball inside, foul
Fastball outside, ball (just off the plate)
Curveball, Outside middle, hung, single
15/24

Bobby Wilson
Fastball out and up, sac bunt (on by error)

Mike Trout
Changeup, down and away, foul
Curve, hung, strike
Fastball inside, foul
Fastball inside (off the plate) ball,
Curve on the plate but low, FC
16/25

Tori Hunter
Fastball inside, ball
Fastball, middle of plate, single
17/26

Mark Trumbo
Curveball way outside, Wild Pitch, ball
Changeup, middle of plate, strike
Fastball, down away, ball
Fastball inside, 1-3
18/27

Kendrys Morales
Changeup outside, strike
Curveball, inside, strike
Fastball (set up inside, ended up up and over) ball
Fastball inside again, foul
Fastball outside, strike (looking K)
19/28

Alberto Callaspo
Fastball cutter outside, strike
Curveball (set up inside, ended up outside ball)
Fastball, set up middle of plate, up and away, ball)
Changeup, set up middle of plate, ended up outside, ball)
Changeup, set up middle of plate, up, ball
19/30

Howie Kendrick
Fastball outside, ball
Curveball, set up middle and ended up middle of plate, single
19/31

Maicer Izturis
Fastball, set up outside, missed inside, Double

Peter Bourjos
Fastball outside, strike
Fastball inside, strike
Fastball down and middle, ball
Curveball, set up middle, in dirt, ball
Curveball, outside, strike (swing, K)
20/32