SURPRISE, Ariz. _ It's tantamount to heresy to suggest in the big data baseball age, but there truly isn't an adequate statistic that can measure the full impact Salvador Perez's lost season had on the Kansas City Royals last year.
This past Friday marked the one-year anniversary of Perez's season-ending Tommy John surgery to repair his ulnar collateral ligament. Surgeon Neal ElAttrache performed the operation in Los Angeles and Perez's season ended before it ever started.
One year later, "Salvy" has cleared all the necessary hurdles and reached the appropriate benchmarks to indicate he's ready for another season as the Royals' decorated, respected and energetic franchise catcher, one of the best two-way players at the game's most demanding position at age 29.
"That was a somber day just in terms of feeling the way we felt for him, I mean all the guy wants to do is play ball," Royals pitcher Danny Duffy said of receiving the news about Perez last year. "When that came out, we really felt it for him first. Then we realized that kind of loss in the lineup and on the field is huge.
"That's not to take anything from what our other catchers did, but that was a tough day for the entire team. We're glad he's back, and we're pumped that he's ready to go and he's back to doing what he does best."
