KANSAS CITY, Mo. — He has taken numerous foul balls off his thighs, off his knuckles, off his facemask.
He has been smacked in the back of his head twice in the postseason by a bat during a hitter's follow-through.
Royals catcher Sal Perez simply plays through it all. And he plays. And he plays.
In fact, Perez hasn't had a game off from catching since Aug. 31 and even then, he was the team's DH that day.
Sure, Perez is tough. But most bodies can take only so much.
Of all the Royals' players who could use the current span of five days without a game, it certainly is Perez.
"It'll help Salvy," manager Ned Yost said. "It'll help both mentally and physically. At the end of the day, you're just as much exhausted mentally than you are physically. So the layoff helps."
Perez agreed.
"Yes, it will help me a lot, especially my lower body," he said. "It'll help me recover and get ready for the next game."
Is there any particular body part hurting the most?
"Nothing hurts," Perez said. "You just get really, really tired."
Perez said he has recovered completely from the blows to the head from opponents' bats.
"That's going to happen," he said. "Sometimes you get too close to the guy. Sometimes they just have a big follow-through. But I'm fine."
The big question now is whether the layoff will help Perez at the plate.
Perez has been a mess offensively for quite some time. In the last 22 games of the regular season, Perez hit just .190. And he swung at everything, walking just once in 86 plate appearances.
Watch the Boulevard Royals Live postgame show on FOX Sports Kansas City after every Kansas City Royals postseason game.
The nightmarish slump has continued into the playoffs, where Perez is just 4 for 34 (.118) with no homers. Again, he has swung wildly at anything pitchers offered; he has just one walk in 35 plate appearances.
Yost, though, isn't concerned.
"I don't worry about that stuff," Yost said. "Salvy is a threat. Salvy can step up there and put a ball in the seats. He's done a phenomenal job of guiding our pitching staff through this.
"He gets big hits. He'll be fine."
True, Perez did get the Royals here. His RBI single was the game-winner in the crazy Wild Card Game.
But Royals fans are patiently waiting for the Sal Perez who was hitting .286 in mid-July to reappear. That Sal Perez already had 11 homers then.
But Perez has just one homer in his last 32 games.
Will the rest help his offense?
"I don't think that will matter," Perez said, shrugging his shoulders. "I feel great. I feel 100 percent. That's not it."
So what is the issue with Perez at the plate?
"I do whatever I can to help this team and my teammates," he said. "I know — they want me to hit, too. I want me to hit, too.
"It'll come. It'll come this series."
Royals fans hope he's right.
You can follow Jeffrey Flanagan on Twitter at @jflanagankc or email him at jeffreyflanagan6@gmail.com.
