{"id":633229,"date":"2026-03-20T09:01:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T09:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/633229\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T09:01:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T09:01:09","slug":"kansas-city-royals-2026-position-analysis-catcher-royals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/633229\/","title":{"rendered":"Kansas City Royals 2026 Position Analysis: Catcher – Royals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBig questions gnaw at the Kansas City Royals. Will offseason acquisitions Isaac Collins<\/a>, Lane Thomas<\/a>, and now <\/a>Starling Marte<\/a>, breathe more life into the infamously poor offensive production of KC\u2019s outfielders? Can Jonathan India<\/a> or Michael Massey<\/a> come through at second base? Will the starting rotation, so strong in 2024, shake the injury bug that struck too hard and too often in 2025? And is Jac Caglianone<\/a> ready to prove he can handle big league pitching?\n<\/p>\n

\n\tNo such questions, though, loom over Kansas City\u2019s catchers. When the Royals take the field at Atlanta\u2019s Truist Park to open the season against the Braves on March 27, and absent a late spring training injury, look for nine-time All-Star Salvador Perez<\/a> behind the plate, where only twice since 2013, his first full big league season, has he not been stationed on Opening Day.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd backing him up will be promising Carter Jensen<\/a>, the franchise\u2019s No. 1 prospect<\/a> and heir apparent to Perez when the club captain retires.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBut expect some change at the position. Not a lot, mind you, but some.\n<\/p>\n

\tRoyals Catchers At A Glance<\/p>\n

\n\tStarter: Salvador Perez
Backup: Carter Jensen
Depth: Luca Tresh<\/a>, Elias D\u00edaz<\/a>, Jorge Alfaro<\/a>
Prospects: Blake Mitchell<\/a>, Ramon Ramirez<\/a>, Hyungchan Um<\/a>
Royals fWAR Ranking Last Year: 18th of 30
Royals fWAR Projection This Year: 18th of 30\n<\/p>\n

\tThe Good<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s a lot about his catchers for manager Matt Quatraro<\/a>, a former professional backstop himself, to like. Perez, still primarily a catcher as he preps for his 15th big league campaign, threw out 43.8% of runners who tested his arm last season (43.9% is his career high) and KC pitchers seem well-satisfied with his game-calling. His five Gold Gloves speak for themselves.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd although the five-time Silver Slugger winner slashed only .236\/.284\/.446 in 2025, his 30 homers and 100 RBI prove he can still produce.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tJensen is, of course, a work in progress, but the progress is excellent. After slashing .290\/.377\/.501 with 20 homers and 76 RBI in 111 games split between Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha last season, he spent September with the Royals, where his 20-game .300\/.391\/.550 line and 159 wRC+ made him a cinch for the club\u2019s 2026 Opening Day roster.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHe\u2019ll also get plenty of work at DH.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tPerez and Jensen will probably be it for the Royals \u2014 carrying a third catcher seems unlikely. But the club should be in good stead if injuries hit: Luca Tresh can be called up from Omaha in a pinch, and don\u2019t be surprised if at least one of the two major league veterans working in spring camp on non-roster invitations \u2014 Elias D\u00edaz or Jorge Alfaro \u2014 sticks around and heads to Omaha with Tresh.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s also Blake Mitchell, our No. 2 KC prospect<\/a> who\u2019s in line for No. 1 when Jensen compiles enough big league time to drop off its list. Mitchell, the Royals\u2019 top 2023 draft pick, will reach the majors, but probably later rather than sooner \u2014 he\u2019s had some bad injury luck and has yet to see a Double-A pitch. Don\u2019t be shocked, though, if the club gives him a taste of The Show in September.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\tThe Bad<\/p>\n

\n\tPerez isn\u2019t, and never will be, a great framer, and he doesn\u2019t block pitches as well as he used to. He\u2019s also entering his age-36 season and will need more time at first base and DH than he\u2019s accustomed to. All that isn\u2019t terrible, though, and beyond the need to rely more on the less-experienced Jensen behind the plate, there isn\u2019t much about KC\u2019s catching to worry Quatraro.\n<\/p>\n

\tThe Bottom Line<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Royals are in good shape behind the plate. Expect good performances from Perez and Jensen, with Jensen making even more strides under Perez\u2019s tutelage.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tPrevious Installments:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Big questions gnaw at the Kansas City Royals. Will offseason acquisitions Isaac Collins, Lane Thomas, and now Starling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2387],"tags":[5,23571,21682,9139,936,2123,55,2596,2595,4,252,373],"class_list":["post-633229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-kansas-city-royals","tag-baseball","tag-blake-mitchell","tag-carter-jensen","tag-catchers","tag-kansas","tag-kansas-city","tag-kansas-city-royals","tag-kansascity","tag-kansascityroyals","tag-mlb","tag-royals","tag-salvador-perez"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116260692084190461","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}