Justin Hollander met with the media prior to the Mariners’ series opener with the Diamondbacks to provide updates on some key injured Mariners. Unfortunately, there’s no set timetable for return for either Cal Raleigh (oblique) or Brendan Donovan (groin), even though both are making steady progress in their recoveries.
Donovan remains in Arizona, but has not yet progressed to baseball activities. The team’s chief concern for Donovan is his ability to run, given the nature of his lower body injury. Currently he’s running on an anti-gravity treadmill, with the hopes that he can transition to a baseball running progression on a field next week when the team heads out on the road, provided he clears the next couple of days without the pain returning. For the baseball running progression, he’ll start by running in straight lines before moving to more intense game-type movement: lateral cuts, starts and stops, etc. Hollander says it’s a deliberately slow build to try to ensure Donovan’s injury won’t be re-aggravated during normal baseball activities.
“These are the type of injuries that you want to be really deliberate with to makes ure we don’t have any kind of setback like we did last time.”
Cal Raleigh will make a visit to the team tomorrow from where he’s been rehabbing in Arizona tomorrow and get a check-in with the medical staff in Seattle while also being able to connect with his teammates. “I think he misses us,” said Hollander. In addition to catching and playing long toss, Raleigh swung off a tee today – 15 swings per side – at moderate (80%) intensity. The goal is next time for him to ramp up the intensity rather than increase the number of reps. Similar to Donovan, the team is managing Raleigh’s ramp-up very carefully, and there’s no official timetable for his return.
“We want to build responsibly and make sure that when he cuts it loose at 100%, that he feels 100%”, said Hollander.
While it can be frustrating for fans – and for the players themselves – to not have a definitive timeline for their return, Hollander was careful to highlight why the organization is being especially careful with these two players, known for their gritty play style and high pain tolerance levels, in particular.
“You want to treat the patient, not just treat the diagnosis,” said Hollander. “And I think the reason we’re being extra-cautious with these guys [Donovan and Raleigh] is I think if we put a date on the calendar and say they’re going to go 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.”
“I don’t want to 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 not playing to the day on the calendar that they set up for them weeks in advance.”
Other injury updates:
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Carlos Vargas is having a repeat MRI today as a final checkpoint before he returns to the ramp-up program he was shut down from a month ago after experiencing aggravation. He’ll have a more defined return to play program once the results from the scans are back.
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Will Wilson (thumb) should be able to begin a rehab assignment in the next week or so.
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On the minor-league sign, Brock Rodden has a minor hamstring strain and will be down for the next one to two weeks. Same for Michael Arroyo, who has had a couple issues with his right hamstring this year but is, in Hollander’s words, a “quick healer.”
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