Royals Star Salvador Perez Placed on IL, Will Have Thumb Surgery

The Royals placed star catcher Salvador Pérez on the 10-day injured list on Friday.

The seven-time All-Star will be undergoing surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament on his left thumb, the organization said. He is expected to return this season.

Royals manager Mike Matheny went into more detail about Pérez’s expected return saying that the team predicts the catcher will be gone for about eight weeks.

“We’ll use that as a template right now, but you always have to wait and see how he feels, how the recovery starts to go,” Matheny said, via MLB.com. “Normally when I hear anything about the thumb, and you hear [the word] ‘surgery,’ I was anticipating we wouldn’t have him the rest of the season. Anything we’re hearing that’s sooner than that is good news for us.”

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If the eight-week timetable is accurate, then Pérez will return sometime around mid-to-late August.

The 32-year-old suffered a left thumb sprain back in May causing him to miss 10 days. He felt the same injury on Tuesday vs. the Angels, so he underwent an MRI to figure out his next steps. He missed Wednesday’s game, and then discovered he would miss more time due to surgery.

So far this season, Pérez is hitting .211/.254/.426, while leading the team with 11 home runs. Last season, Pérez tied with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for the most home runs in MLB with 48.

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