DUNEDIN, Fla. – Three singles to left field and one lazy fly ball to track down made for a relatively quiet return to the outfield for Steve Pearce, although his five innings of work Saturday offered him much more than that.
“It feels good just to get the reps,” he said after exiting the Toronto Blue Jays’ 16-0 thumping of the Canadian junior national team. “I’m not really worried about how many balls were hit out to me, just reading balls off the bat, getting that first break, stuff like that, so it was good to get out there.
“Just getting the feel again. It’s been a while since I’ve been out there for game action.”
That it has for Pearce, who last played left field Sept. 12 with the Baltimore Orioles against Boston, when he re-aggravated a flexor mass strain he first suffered in early August. Surgery to repair the flexor tendons in his elbow followed, and the Blue Jays have built him up cautiously to Saturday’s outing.
He’s made throws up to 180 feet but some work still remains.
“I still haven’t done any throwing to bases from the outfield, stuff like that, so there’s still a process we have to follow, we’re just not there yet,” said Pearce, who said the next steps for him were, “live off the bat [work], doing infield/outfield and throwing to bases.”
The Blue Jays want Pearce to get the bulk of their work in left field, although they can play him at first base, too, if needed. Over the course of his career he’s appeared in 208 games in the outfield, 212 at first base, 33 at second base and 12 at third base.
Playing the outfield has “become second nature, I’ve been out there for a long time,” said Pearce. “I came up as a first baseman so obviously that’s more natural for me but even when I’m in the outfield, it’s still pretty comfortable.
“Once you get out there and you’re seeing swings and flight of the ball it becomes all natural but you have to see it and get the live action because you can’t simulate game speed in practice.”
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