Royals six-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glove catcher Salvador Perez’s season may be in doubt because of an elbow injury on his throwing arm.
The team announced prior to Friday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim that Perez had an MRI on Thursday, which showed damage to his ulnar collateral ligament. He’ll travel to Los Angeles next week to receive a second opinion from surgeon Neal ElAttrache.
Pitchers are most commonly associated with these injuries, as UCL tears often require Tommy John surgery in order to repair the elbow ligament. It’s not totally uncommon for position players to have the surgery in order to repair the ligament.