St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Jhonny Peralta could be out for up to three months after suffering a thumb injury in spring training. The Cardinals announced the news about Peralta on Monday, saying that the shortstop may have a torn ligament in his left hand.
Peralta originally sustained the injury on Saturday while trying to field a ball, and had testing done to see the extent of the damage. General manager John Mozeliak spoke to the media and said that the MRI results were "not positive." Peralta is reportedly heading back to St. Louis and will get a second opinion on the injury. Mozeliak said that the team likely will have more information on Peralta's status on Wednesday.
"The severity of that is something that's still being discussed, but the initial read is not positive," Mozeliak said.
Peralta has been relatively healthy through his career, including the last two seasons when he played in over 300 combined games. Last season, Peralta hit .275 with 17 home runs and 71 RBI for the Cardinals, and also was named to the All-Star team. If the tear is serious, Peralta could miss at least two months or potentially more. The 33-year-old has been a key player for the Cardinals since joining the team in 2014.
St. Louis has some depth on the roster to take over for Peralta, with players like Jedd Gyorko, Greg Garcia and Aledmys Diaz as potential options. Gyorko was at shortstop in place of Peralta on Monday when the Cardinals took on the New York Mets. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the injury to Peralta is similar in nature to the injury suffered by catcher Yadier Molina.
"The outcome of the second opinion will dictate whether we have to look outside (the organization)," Mozeliak said. "Right now it would be all hands on deck unless there was an outside solution we would consider."
Molina is coming back from surgery on his thumb in the offseason, and the Cardinals announced that he may get into his first game since last year in spring training after recovering. Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said that Molina is making significant progress, but that he is not ready to swing a bat yet.
