KANSAS CITY — The Kansas City Royals will be without their longtime catcher for an extended period of time, as the club announced Friday. Salvador Perez had successful surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament on his left thumb.

But fear not, Royals fans: Perez is expected to return to play this season. Manager Mike Matheny said the timeline Royals trainers are eyeing is around eight weeks for his return return.

“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,” Matheny said before Friday’s series opener against the A’s. “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.”

Perez was placed on the 10-day injured list on Friday, and in his place on the roster, the Royals reinstated outfielder Edward Olivares from his rehab assignment at Triple-A Omaha.