By Chris Brown / STL Baseball Today | @cbrown_STLBBT | March 14, 2016, 10:01 pm CT
By Keith Allison / CC Image / No changes made
JUPITER, Fla. • With his hand in a cast and his arm in a sling, Cardinals shortstop Jhonny Peralta returned to the team’s training facilities here in Jupiter on Monday four days after having surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left hand, ESPN’s Mark Saxon was among those to report.
The three-time All-Star told reporters he will wear a hard cast for the next few weeks before returning to St. Louis to have it and his stitches removed.
“After that, they have to put another cast on I think,” Peralta said. “After that I rehab. It’ll take awhile but I don’t know when specifically I’ll be back. Hopefully soon.”
“If you asked me, I can play in two weeks,” the veteran said laughing.
Recovery from an injury of this severity is uncharted territory for the 33-year-old, who has played 146 or more games in eight of the last nine seasons. Peralta said he’s been receiving advice on the recovery process from catcher Yadier Molina, who had ended up having two similar surgeries this offseason after the first didn’t take.
[More from STLBBT: Cardinals option outfielder Charlie Tilson to AAA Memphis]
“It’s no fun to have to be in a cast and everything, but he told me, ‘Try to do it the right way,’ because he did it one time and didn’t do the process of how they need to do it and that’s when he got hurt one more time,” Peralta told reporters, including Saxon. “He said, ‘Take your time and do what you need to do.’”
On a positive front, Peralta added that doctors told him his surgery wasn’t as complicated as it could have been, and his recovery timeline is set at 10-12 weeks. This was the initial timeline that came with the injury, though reports shortly after his surgery suggested the shortstop could be sidelined until near the All-Star break. Rather, his current 10-12 week recovery could see Peralta back on the field as soon as late May/early June, barring setbacks.
[Related: Shortstop Trade Rumors: Cardinals reportedly interested in Mets’ Tejada, Dbacks’ Ahmed]
With Peralta on the shelf, the redbirds are evaluating in-house options Aledmys Diaz, Jedd Gyorko, and Greg Garcia at the position. The club has also apparently begun evaluating the trade market, with reports of interest in the Mets’ Ruben Tejada and Diamondbacks’ Nick Ahmed.
