‘It’s tough for me’: Injured Cardinals shortstop Peralta back in camp after surgery

Injured St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Jhonny Peralta returned to spring training Monday for the first time since Thursday when he underwent surgery on his torn left thumb ligament.

Peralta’s arm was in a hard cast and supported by a sling. He will return to St. Louis in two weeks to have stitches removed and receive another cast.

“It’s tough for me,” Peralta said. “My whole career, this is the first time I’ve been hurt like that. It’s crazy for me, hard. It’s never happened. I go to see people play and I can do nothing. So it’s a little tough.”

Peralta injured the thumb making a play in the hole between third and short March 6 against the Washington Nationals at Roger Dean Stadium.

The surgery was performed in St. Louis by Dr. Charles Goldfarb. Early indications are that Peralta will be sidelined two to three months.

“I don’t feel anything,” Peralta said. “The first night was tough. Hard to sleep. They gave me medicine, but no matter what, it’s hard. But after that, it was fine.”

Peralta said doctors didn’t give him a firm date about when he could return. The ligament will need several weeks to heal, and Peralta will have to be cleared before beginning a rehab assignment in the minor leagues.

“No idea,” he said of a return. “If it’s me, I can play in two weeks. But no, I need to see what the doctors say and how everything’s going. I’ll see when I go back to St. Louis.

“They’ll have to put another cast on, I think. After that, the rehab. I don’t know when, specifically, I’ll come back. Hopefully, soon. The next two weeks, I’ll be here.”

Peralta said it will be difficult not being with his teammates on road trips.

“I really don’t like to watch it on TV because I want to be there,” he said. “It’s going to be tough. I like to play. For me to watch it on TV and not be on the field is hard.”

The injury is like the one catcher Yadier Molina suffered in the playoffs in October. Molina underwent two surgeries, and while he’s playing in spring training, he still has not been able to swing a bat in a game.

Peralta, who slumped in the second half last season but still batted .275 with 17 homers and 71 RBIs in 155 games, said Molina has preached patience.

“I talked to Molina for a little bit and he said, ‘Relax. It’s hard to be in the cast and everything,’” Peralta said. ‘He said, ‘Try to do it the right way. Take your time and do what you need to do.’

“For right now, (doctors) don’t want me to do anything.”

Although still disappointed, Peralta said he’s come to grips with the setback.

“The initial (injury) was more disappointment,” he said. “When it happened, I said, ‘I can’t believe this has happened to me.’ I’ve slid a lot of times like that and it’s never happened like that. When I put my glove down, that’s when it happened. It was really fast. I made the play good, but no chance to get an out.”

Peralta doesn’t know who will earn the starting shortstop job in his absence. Veteran Jedd Gyorko, acquired for outfielder Jon Jay in the offseason, is the leading candidate. Rookie Aledmys Diaz and Greg Garcia also are receiving long looks from manager Mike Matheny.

“They’re good players. They’re doing a pretty good job,” Peralta said. “I don’t know who will get to be the shortstop every day, but whoever gets to be shortstop, they’ll be doing good.”

This story was originally published March 14, 2016 at 10:43 AM with the headline "‘It’s tough for me’: Injured Cardinals shortstop Peralta back in camp after surgery."