Kyle Davies Released; Royals Call Up Salvador Perez

The youth movement in Kansas City continued Wednesday when the Royals called up 21 year old catching prospect Salvador Perez to replace regular backstop Brayan Pena who’s on paternity leave.  To make room for Perez, Kansas City cut ties with struggling starter Kyle Davies.

Perez spent most of the year playing for the Royals Double-A squad before joining the Triple-A ranks for 12 games.  Combined, the youngster hit at a clip of .290/.331/.437 with 10 home runs and 53 RBI’s.

But what he’s been able to do behind rather than at the plate this year that’s really caught the Royals attention.  Between his two levels of competition, the backstop has thrown out nearly half of the runners who’ve attempted to steal against him.

"“He’s done a great job,” Royals general manager Dayton Moore said. “He’s a very advanced catcher from the receiving, throwing, game-calling and blocking aspects. And, offensively, he just keeps getting better and better and we just felt it was time to get him up here and get his feet wet and see how he adjusts to the Major Leagues. He’s going to stay the rest of the year.”"

Davies, who carries with him a career ERA of 5.59, has been worse than usual this season.  The right hander was 1-9 on the year, with his lone victory coming in a game in which he gave up 5 runs on 10 hits over 5 innings.

Over his 13 starts this season the 27 year old has an earned run average of 6.75 with a 1.79 WHIP.  Opposing teams loved them some Davies, as hitters held a .332 batting average against him.

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