Cardinals shortstop Jhonny Peralta will begin a rehab assignment with Low-A Peoria on Friday as he mounts his comeback from thumb surgery.
Peralta took batting practice yesterday so the Cardinals must have liked what they saw. If his assignment goes well he’ll be on track to come back in June, which is on the optimistic side of projections when he first went down. When he does come back Mike Matheny will have an interesting choice: give the veteran shortstop his job back or stick with Aledmys Diaz, who has hit a blistering .376/.403/.648 in Peralta’s absence.