Royals reinstate Salvy from IL, option Viloria

Salvador Perez is back from his latest malady, a vision problem that cost him the last 20 games.

The Kansas City Royals reinstated their star catcher from the 10-day injured list Friday and inserted him in the No. 3 spot in the batting order for their home game Friday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In a corresponding move, the Royals optioned catcher Meibrys Viloria to their alternate training site.

Perez has been dealing with left eye central serous chorioretinopathy, a condition in which fluid accumulates under the retina and causes vision loss.

Prior to the injury, Perez was having a terrific season, especially after having dealt with COVID-19 during training camp in July. And this is coming off a 2019 season he missed entirely following elbow (Tommy John) surgery.

Salvy is batting .307 with 27 hits, four home runs and 12 RBIs. He had an 11-game hitting streak from Aug. 2-15.

Viloria is batting .190 with nine strikeouts in 21 at-bats (15 games) this season.