Royals All-Star catcher and five-time Gold Glove winner Salvador Perez remains hopeful that he’ll be able to play this season, but he also knows that he has to be prepared for the possibility of missing the entire 2019 campaign.
Perez spoke with reporters at the team facility in Arizona on Saturday, one day after the team announced that an MRI revealed damage to the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing arm.
He’ll travel to Los Angeles next week to receive a second opinion from surgeon Neal ElAttrache on Tuesday.
Royals manager Ned Yost wasn’t willing to look down the road beyond Tuesday’s second opinion, but Perez knows he may need season-ending Tommy John surgery that would likely come with a recovery timetable of a year.