May 7 (UPI) — Cleveland Indians catcher and two-time Gold Glove Award winner Roberto Perez will be out at least two months after undergoing surgery Friday to repair his fractured right ring finger.
The Indians said there is no definitive timetable for the return of Perez, who needed to have three pins inserted into his hand. The team said Perez’s estimated timeline to return is eight to 10 weeks.
“I mean, it’s not weeks. It’s months,” Indians manager Terry Francona told reporters Friday. “Anything that we pass along, it’s going to be a rough estimate just because, again, we’ve been through this before. It’s not perfect.”
Perez suffered the injury during a game against the Chicago White Sox on April 13 when he got crossed up on a pitch from reliever James Karinchak. As Perez got out of his squat to catch what he thought was a fastball, the pitch broke. As he reacted, the ball clipped his right ring finger, leading to the fracture.
The 32-year-old catcher attempted to play through the injury. The club eventually placed him on the 10-day injured list Wednesday.
Perez posted a photo of himself in a hospital bed on social media Friday, saying the procedure was finished and he will return soon. Austin Hedges is expected to get the bulk of starts while Perez is sidelined, with Rene Rivera serving as backup.
“We’ll see how it goes,” Francona said Friday. “I think it’s easy to say, ‘Well, Rene had three hits [Thursday], why don’t you play him today?’ But that was his first game that he’s actually caught nine innings, so we don’t want to overdo him, either.
“So we’ll try to use good judgement. My guess is you’ll see Hedges catch more, maybe not quite as much as Roberto was.”
Perez has a .131 batting average with three home runs and nine RBIs over 19 games this season.
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