Cleveland Indians catcher Roberto Perez has surgery on fractured finger; out 8 to 10 weeks – cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Gold Glove catcher Roberto Perez will miss eight to 10 weeks after undergoing surgery on the ring finger of his right hand. He injured the finger making an awkward catch of a James Karinchak pitch on April 13 against the White Sox.

Perez visited hand specialist Dr. Frank Graham in Dayton on Thursday and had the surgery on Friday morning. He had three pins inserted in the finger.

The Indians placed Perez on the injured list on Wednesday while in Kansas City. They selected the contract of veteran catcher Rene Rivera from Class AAA Columbus.

“We were trying to be respectful to Roberto, but we knew going in surgery was more probable than not,” said manager Terry Francona. “We wanted to be fair to Roberto and not have him come back and put himself at risk. So I think we were prepared or this.”

As for a timetable on Perez’s return, Francona said he didn’t have the official diagnosis from Dr. Graham, but added, “It’s not weeks, it’s months.”

A few minutes after Francona ended his Zoom call with reporters, the team announced the eight to 10 week timetable. Dr. Graham did the surgery at Kettering Health in Dayton.

Francona said Perez tried to play through the injury since catching a pitch awkwardly from Karinchak in a game against the White Sox on April 13. Last weekend, however, the pain increased and Perez’s right hand started to swell.

Austin Hedges is expected to handle the bulk of the catching in Perez’s absence. Rivera had three hits on Thursday against the Royals.

“We’re going to try to use good judgment,” said Francona when asked how he would handle the catching situation. “My guess is you’ll see Hedges catch more, maybe not quite enough as Roberto has.”

Perez, who has won the AL Gold Glove for outstanding defense the last two years, is a testament to how difficult the job can be. He missed more than half of the 60-game sprint last year with a strained right shoulder. In 2019, he needed surgery to remove bone chips from his right ankle. In 2016 he missed more than two months when he needed surgery to repair a broken thumb on his right hand.