SEATTLE – Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh and utilityman Brendan Donovan are progressing well as they work their way back from injuries, but the timeline for a return from both is still unclear.
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Mariners general manager Justin Hollander on Friday said that the switch-hitting Raleigh (right oblique strain) took 30 swings off a tee at moderate intensity – 15 from each side of the plate – in Arizona for the first time earlier in the day.
The star catcher is scheduled for another workout Saturday in Arizona and will be back in Seattle before the Mariners’ game that night for a check-in.
“We’ll assess where he’s at. I don’t know whether he’ll stay with us or go back to Arizona, but he’s doing well right now,” Hollander said. “He’s catching. He’s throwing out to 130 feet, I believe. So, just want to build responsibly and make sure that when he cuts it loose 100%, that he feels 100%. I don’t have any more of a timeline than that. I’ll probably know more than that a week from now in terms of how he’s doing and where we’re at in terms of return-to-play date.
“But I think the swings today were a good sign and he felt good after doing it.”
Hollander said Raleigh’s swing progression will be more about building up intensity than volume.
“It’s more about, do we go to 90%? Then, is he full go at 100%? And then it’s getting live on the field off a machine or off of just traditional (batting practice) and building that way,” said Hollander, who noted Raleigh took swings at about 80% Friday. “I don’t really think that the … volume of swings is going to be something that we build to a big number. It’s more the intensity of those swings and once you progress from a tee to a machine to a live arm, sort of the difference in how your body feels with each of those different types of batting practice.”
Whether Raleigh remains in Seattle or goes back to Arizona after his visit this weekend will be determined by where the club feels he can best get in the work he needs and which staff members he’ll need to work with.
Donovan (left groin muscle strain) is also in Arizona and has been running on an Alter G, a specialized treadmill with unweighting technology that can reduce gravity’s impact. He’s expected to finish that stage of his progression in the next couple of days and will be re-assessed to determine if he can start a baseball-running progression.
Donovan will likely head back to Seattle for a check-in when the club heads out for its next road trip next week before starting his running progression. The progression will start with straight-line running before moving to baseball movements like cutting and rounding the bases.
“These are the types of injuries that you know you want to be really deliberate with to make sure we don’t have any kind of setback like we did last time,” Hollander said. “… No real timeline on when he’ll be back to full baseball activity. Less concerned about the hitting than we are about the running.”
Both Raleigh and Donovan will need minor league rehab assignments before returning to the big league club, and the club is planning to be cautious with how they bring both back.
“When you’re dealing with players in general, you want to treat the patient, not just treat the diagnosis. And I think the reason that we’re being extra sort of cautious with these guys is I think if we put a date on the calendar and say they’re going on a rehab assignment on this day, they will go on the rehab assignment on that day, whether they’re actually feeling good enough to do it or not,” Hollander said.
“So we’re just kind of assessing day-to-day with how they’re actually doing. And I don’t wanna say we’re ignoring what they’re saying, but we’re taking what they’re saying in the context of who they are and making sure that when they’re ready to go out, they’re actually ready to go out and they’re not just sort of playing to the day on the calendar that we set up for them weeks in advance.”
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