Salvador Perez breezed into the Royals interview room on a recent home stand and joked easily with the team’s communications director as he waited for Ned Yost to finish his postgame news conference.
Perez, the team’s All-Star catcher, teased a reporter for referring to Yost as “coach” — not manager or skipper — climbed onto his seat on the dais, accepted one question in Spanish then turned to face the contingent of media waiting to speak with him in the bowels of Kauffman Stadium.
In a thick accent, Perez rehashed a hard-fought at-bat against Boston Red Sox reliever Robby Scott, poked fun at himself for regularly swinging at pitches outside the zone and beamed with pride when asked about the bat he’d shown off to his teammates after hitting his first career grand slam.