CLEVELAND (AP) — José Ramírez has made steady progress in his recovery from hand surgery and the Cleveland Guardians star third baseman will soon start taking batting practice.
The seven-time All-Star has been out since having a portion of the hamate bone in his left hand removed on June 16. while making a swing against the Detroit Tigers three days earlier.
Chris Antonetti, the Guardians’ president of baseball operations, said Ramírez has been hitting off a tee and is scheduled to start overhand batting practice “over the next couple days.”
Antonetti said the 5-to-7-week recovery timeframe on Ramírez remains unchanged, and the team expects him back later this month following the All-Star break. When the switch-hitting Ramírez had the same procedure done on his right hand in 2019, he returned in 30 days.
Antonetti stressed that Ramírez has more hurdles to overcome.
“It’s really individual specific,” Antonetti said Sunday when asked if the 33-year-old could be back sooner. “It’s how well the recovery site heals, how much discomfort they have over the surgery site and when they can progress to activity.
“So far, Hosey has met or exceeded all of those checkpoints along the way. So hopefully we’ll be on the shorter side of that. But again, he still has a lot of activity or a lot of boxes to check between now and then.”
One of the AL’s top players, Ramírez, a .278 career hitter, was batting just .239 with 10 homers and 33 RBIs when he got hurt. He was leading the league with 24 steals.
The Guardians have managed to stay in contention without their best player.
Cleveland entered its four-game series finale against Chicago at 47-43, one-thousandth of a percent behind the White Sox (46-42) atop the AL Central.
Despite having to rely on numerous rookies, the Guardians have stayed more than competitive. They’ve also been without outfielder Angel Martinez and only recently got back rookie slugger Chase DeLauter from the injured list.
Ramírez, Martinez and DeLauter were all injured in the same game.
“It’s obviously been a lot to overcome,” Antonetti said. “But I think that’s been one of the hallmarks of this group, not only this year, but over the last few years is finding a way to overcome adversity. We know we have our work cut out for us.
“There’s still a ways to go before we get to the break and we know we need to continue to try to find ways to string together some wins. Our pitching staff has done a really good job of giving us a chance to stay in almost every game. We’ve found a way to score just enough to keep our heads above water. Obviously, there’s continued room for improvement on both sides of the ball, but yeah, hopefully we can continue to find a way to win.”
Antonetti said Martinez, who is out with a nondisplaced fracture in his left foot, felt good after taking batting practice and fielding grounders on Saturday. He also is projected to rejoin the club following the July 13-16 break.
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