Royals C Salvador Perez cleared for rehab assignment

Perez, 32, had to undergo surgery in late June to repair the ulnar collateral ligament on his left thumb. He was originally expected to return to the lineup this season, although not until late August at the earliest.

"We’ll use that as a template right now, but you always have to wait and see how he feels, how the recovery starts to go," Royals manager Mike Matheny said back in June, via the MLB's website. "Normally when I hear anything about the thumb, and you hear [the word] 'surgery,' I was anticipating we wouldn’t have him the rest of the season. Anything we’re hearing that’s sooner than that is good news for us."

Looks like the Royals did indeed get that good news. According to The Kansas City Star, Perez was spotted doing light catching drills under trainer supervision during the Royals' last homestand before the All-Star break and has now gotten the green light to get in some minor league games. 

The seven-time All-Star is slashing .267/.300/.461 this season with 11 home runs, 34 RBI and 47 hits through 57 games played.