Salvador Perez, Kansas City Royals Sign Five-Year Extension

The Kansas City Royals announced a five-year contract extension with catcher Salvador Perez last night.  Perez’s new deal guarantees him $7 million over the next five years, but the 21-year-old has an opportunity to earn as much as $26.75 million over eight years with options and built-in incentives.

Bob Dutton of The Kansas City Star offered readers a yearly breakdown of Salvador’s new contract.  Salvador will earn $750,000 in 2012, $1 million in ’13, $1.5 million in ’14, $1.75 million in ’15, and $2 million in ’16.  Salvador’s deal also includes three club options years; $3.75 million in ’17, $5 million in ’18 and $6 million in ’19.  There are also built-in incentives that allow the potential total value of the contract to reach $26.75 million.

Signed as an international free agent out of Venezuela, Perez spent that past five seasons in the Royals minor league system.  Over that span, Salvador hit at a clip of .285/.328/.397 while profiling as an excellent defensive backstop.

Perez went on to make his major league debut with the Royals last fall, getting an opportunity to play in 39 games and collect 158 plate appearances.  The young catcher was impressive at the plate during his short stint, posting a line of .331/.361/.473 with 13 extra base hits and 21 RBI’s.

Perez joins an extremely young and talented Royals infield that boasts a ton of potential moving forward.  The group and the Royals in general should be fun to watch in 2012.

For more on the Royals, be sure to check out Kings of Kauffman.

You can follow Call to the Pen on Twitter at @FSCalltothePen or like us here on Facebook.