This story was featured in Issue 4 of Royals Baseball Insider and is available for free to all fans who attend any game during the homestand from July 2–8, 2018.
An average human being requires roughly 25 muscles to achieve a smile.
Salvador Perez, however, uses every fiber of his body.
Amorously dubbed “El Niño,” which translates from Spanish to “the kid,” Perez’s kindness and charisma transcend Major League Baseball itself, and they embody a passion and drive for success that are simply second to none. Although Perez has found a home in Kansas City, a place he had never heard of until he was a teenager, he was born in a country where being revered and deified as an athlete was not a reality.