Catcher Salvador Perez could return to Royals as early as Tuesday

Royals catcher Salvador Perez snared the ball in the dirt and fired a dart to first base.

There wasn’t a baserunner who needed to scamper back to the bag, because this wasn’t in a game. It was during a series of drills Friday at Kauffman Stadium, and Perez moved with ease.

Perez has been on the 10-day disabled list since Aug. 6 after straining an intercostal muscle two days earlier, but his return to the Royals could come as soon as next week.

“He’s going to take BP (batting practice), a couple rounds on the field today,” Royals manager Ned Yost said Friday. “If he passes all that, he’ll take a full round of BP on the field on Saturday and we’ll ramp up the BP on Sunday with a machine and get some more game-type speed stuff on Sunday and Monday, and we’ll see where he is on Tuesday.”

The Royals have an off day Monday after a three-game series with the Cleveland Indians. The Colorado Rockies will be at Kauffman Stadium to open a three-game series on Tuesday, and Perez could be back on the active roster at that time, Yost said.

That means Perez, who is batting .278 with 20 doubles, 21 home runs and 65 RBIs in 99 games, won’t be making a rehab assignment in the minor leagues.

“I don’t really want to send him down there with a chance of somebody drilling him or something,” Yost said.

This story was originally published August 18, 2017 at 6:32 PM with the headline "Catcher Salvador Perez could return to Royals as early as Tuesday."