ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Jose Bautista is eyeing a potential return to the Toronto Blue Jays lineup in Boston after his right shoulder didn’t improve enough for him to start against the Tampa Bay Rays over the weekend.
The right-fielder described his progress as "good, it’s coming along" on Sunday morning before an acupuncture session designed to help speed the healing. He’s missed five games since suffering a strain trying to throw out Delmon Young at first base last week against Baltimore.
"It’s hard to predict exactly when I’m going to be back playing, but I feel much better, could be (Monday), could be the day after, we’ll just have to take it day-by-day, I guess, just like the initial report was," said Bautista. "But I feel night and day from when the injury originally occurred."
Mobility in his shoulder is no longer a problem, he took some swings in the cage before the game, and the issue is “more weakness right now,” Bautista explained.
"When you strain a muscle like that it kind of shuts off to allow healing," he continued. "It’s not strong right now, but the strength comes back quick as long as you can get most of the pain out. Once the pain becomes soreness I can deal with that, so I think I’m getting close to that point."
The plan remains for Bautista to return as the designated hitter once he’s ready to ease the strain on his shoulder. How much longer he’ll need to get back into the field is unclear, but he doesn’t think he’ll need to guard his arm on throws.
"As long as I’m good to throw I’ll be back playing and I’ll be normal," he said. "It’ll take me longer to get back on defence than back in the lineup."
While the Blue Jays survived against the Orioles without him, Bautista has certainly been missed on both sides of the field against the Rays, when runs have been much harder to come by.
A 4-2 loss Saturday in which the bullpen gave up a 2-1 lead in the eighth was especially painful, and Bautista joined the chorus of voices preaching patience for 20-year-old right-hander Miguel Castro, who’s surrendered runs in three of his past four outings.
"Just got to be there as his support," said Bautista. "He’s got a long career ahead of him. It’s not the first or the last time he’s going to give up a hit or a home run. We’re not too concerned about that.
"He’s going to figure out how to get some of those people out and come back from not throwing strikes early in some counts and getting behind in counts with some hitters that can do some damage. He’s going to figure out how to throw off-speed pitches for strikes to get back in to even counts where he can dominate with his overpowering stuff. It’s not going to take him long to figure that out. He’s got so much good, raw stuff on the mound that it will allow him to do that once he figures out how to utilize his off-speed pitches behind in the count for strikes."
