Royals catcher Salvador Perez this season has been able to count on very few constants.
Eric Hosmer and Lorenzo Cain, teammates he loved like brothers, departed Kansas City as free agents in the winter and signed with National League clubs. Perez’s batting average, historically a middling stat when compared to other backstops, has teetered at the bottom of the list of catchers with at least 250 plate appearances throughout the first half of the season. His team has plodded along at an historic rate, on the brink of losing a franchise-record 116 games and having already endured three separate streaks of at least nine losses.