The Kansas City Royals announced this afternoon that catcher Salvador Perez and right-handed pitcher Zack Greinke have been named Royals Player and Pitcher of the Month, respectively, for May. The awards are determined by a local media vote.
Perez paced the club with 9 home runs and 19 RBI last month, and his 9 homers matched Gary Gaetti (May 1995) for the most home runs ever hit by a Royal in the month of May. His 9 home runs trailed only Aaron Judge (12), Jorge Soler (12), and Pete Alonso (10) for the most in the Majors, and his .635 slugging percentage ranked 4th in the American League, behind Judge (.882), Mickey Moniak (.694) and Luis Robert Jr. (.640). He recorded at least 1 RBI in 13 of his 24 games in May and hit safely in 17 of those 24 contests. Perez opened the month with his 15th career multi-homer game on May 2 vs. Baltimore, which is the 3rd most such games in Royals history behind only George Brett (17) and Mike Sweeney (16). Just five days later, he hit a 462-ft. home run on May 7 vs. Oakland, which tied for the 6th-longest home run by a Royal since 2015 (according to Statcast), behind Brandon Moss (474 ft. in 2017), Kendrys Morales (469 ft. in 2015), Soler (465 ft. in 2019 and 464 ft. in 2017) and Adalberto Mondesi (464 ft. in 2021). This marks Perez’s seventh career monthly honor, which ranks 5th among Royals since the award was instituted in 1995, and he trails only Alex Gordon (13), Sweeney (13), Eric Hosmer (11), and Billy Butler (8).
Greinke started 6 games last month and pitched to a 2.30 ERA (8 ER in 31.1 IP), which was the 7th best mark in the American League and the best by a Royal (min. 30.0 IP) in the month of May since Chris Young posted a 1.45 ERA (5 ER in 31.0 IP) in May 2015. He tossed at least 5.0 innings with no more than 3 earned runs allowed in all 6 of his starts, and his month was bookended with a pair of scoreless outings, as he held Baltimore to just 3 hits in 5.0 innings on May 3 and he kept the Cardinals scoreless with just 2 hits and 1 walk allowed on May 30 in St. Louis. Zack issued only 3 walks in 31.1 innings, and his 0.86 BB/9 ranked 2nd in the Majors behind Seattle’s Bryce Miller (0.75 BB/9), while his 2.5% walk rate matched Seattle’s George Kirby for the 2nd lowest, trailing only Miller (2.2%). This marks Greinke’s ninth career monthly honor, breaking a tie with Joakim Soria for the most Pitcher of the Month Awards earned by a Royal since it was established in 1995. This is Zack’s first time receiving the award since he re-signed with the club prior to the 2022 season, as his most recent such honor came in September of his 2009 Cy-Young Award-winning campaign, a year in which he won Pitcher of the Month four times.
