Still Salvy after all these years: Stolen base symbolizes Sal Perez’s endless energy

Sal Perez pulverized a fourth-inning pitch for his first home run of spring training on Thursday at Surprise Stadium. The two-run shot gave the Royals a 6-3 lead in their 8-4 victory over the Angels. A fine moment.

But the most telling snapshot of his day was that patented grin he flashed as he pointed toward manager Matt Quatraro and teammates after stealing second base in the first inning.

No sooner had he gestured their way, though, than he wished he’d enhanced the celebration with the ol’ Jarrod Dyson vroom-vroom bit.

“You remember Dyson: ‘That’s what speed do,’” he said, laughing.

With current Royals’ flash Bobby Witt Jr. applauding Perez’s speed from nearby in the clubhouse, the 32-year-old Perez — who has six stolen bases in his regular-season career — suggested the rising star had a voice in his initiative.

“Junior told me how to do it,” he said, noting the tips included “no looking at Skip (Quatraro). No looking for signs. Whatever happens is going to happen.”

To say nothing of the alluring advantage of the bases being expanded from 15 inches to 18 inches this year.

“I don’t have to run that far; that’s good” said Perez, who only once has hit a home run and stolen a base in a single regular-season game.

Alas, there was a downside to him showing Quatraro his wheels.

“That’s why he won’t do it again,” Quatraro said with a deft comedic delivery.

But the meaning of the moment, nicely amplified by Perez proceeding to third base with a headfirst slide on a sacrifice fly, wasn’t really about Perez running, per se.

It was the statement it made about how Perez, as exuberant as ever, continues swigging from his own personal fountain of youth.

Even entering his 12th big-league season with 1,254 games and 5,031 plate appearances and dealing with major injuries and surely countless others we don’t even know about, even with seven All-Star Games and five Gold Gloves and a World Series MVP to his name, he’s still Salvy after all these years.

When we spoke Thursday about how to account for his vast reservoir of energy, Perez initially said, “I think that’s the kind of person I am. I grew up like that.”

Then he paused and added, “That’s a pretty good question, man. We’re going to think about that and maybe have a better answer the next time.”

While the details of how he takes care of himself no doubt are fundamental to the phenomenon, his answer actually was plenty insightful: the kind of person he is.

Certainly, it’s what anyone who’s been around him through the years would tell you — an essence that will be on display in another way in the weeks to come after he heads to Miami in the next few days to join Team Venezuela for the World Baseball Classic.

Royals scouts could feel it when they first saw him in Venezuela in 2006 and signed him for $65,000.

That was hours after Perez, in fact, showed those wheels at a camp on a military base when a German shepherd broke loose from his handler and chased him into his 60-yard dash.

“That’s the fastest I’ve ever run,” Royals scout Orlando Estevez recalled Perez saying at the time.

You could know the impact of that magnetism from how teammates and even opponents have responded to him over the years. See it in how he cherishes his mother. Or in the way he mourned and eulogized Yordano Ventura. Even in how he attacked Tommy John surgery.

His endearing and enduring persona, not to mention production, would carry a certain resonance any time on any team, really.

But it’s all the more conspicuous and reassuring in a time of profound flux all around him.

From front office changes to the overhaul of the coaching staff, from the emphasis on the Whiz Kids at the core of the Royals future to MLB’s rule changes, Perez is an anchor and a constant.

As such, he’s not just the last man standing from the 2014 and 2015 glory days. He’s a beacon radiating the light of that era onto the next presumed surge bubbling up now, a wave he’s determined to be part of.

He would be this way, anyway. But he’s also conscious of his influence in the clubhouse and feels the eyes on him.

“I want to show them something good,” he said. “Be happy, you know? Take care of your job. Do what you’re supposed to do. And get better every day.”

In his first spring training on the job, Quatraro already seems to share the admiration of that infectious attitude that predecessors Ned Yost and Mike Matheny so appreciated.

“Yeah, he’s not lacking energy,” Quatraro said. “He’s vocal. He’s into every pitch. He’s into it in practice and (batting practice) and the clubhouse.”

As for the notion that others are looking towards him?

That extends beyond the players.

“Rightfully so — they should look at him,” Quatraro said. “And we as a staff respect what he’s done, too. So he’s included in a lot of the discussions, decision-making, things like that. He’s earned that.”

Among many other things.

Just not a green light to steal bases.