TORONTO — If it was up to Josh Donaldson, he’d be in the lineup for the Toronto Blue Jays’ home opener versus the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday night. Unfortunately for Josh Donaldson, it’s not.
“I would love to give it a try at least,” said Donaldson, who won’t start the game but says he will be available to pinch hit. “But I trust what they’re saying. Ultimately, they’re looking out for the benefit of me. I don’t take much pleasure in thinking of the long haul. I would rather play today and see what happens tomorrow.”
Donaldson came out of Sunday’s game in Tampa Bay after tweaking his right calf while sprinting through first base. He went immediately to the clubhouse for treatment, and was at Rogers Centre throughout Monday’s off-day receiving plenty more.
He says all that rehabilitative attention is working, and that he feels that he could play Tuesday without being a detriment to his team. But the club’s approach is decidedly more cautious.
“It’s still hanging around,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said of the injury. “So, we figured it’s best today to give it another day. We’ll go day-to-day with it and we’ll see where he’s at tomorrow.”
Of course, Donaldson is familiar with this situation. He injured his calf early in spring training and was brought along very deliberately over the subsequent weeks as the Blue Jays training staff attempted to fully eradicate the injury from his leg. If it was up to him he would have returned to Grapefruit League games much sooner than he did.
The Blue Jays likely won’t be quite as wary this time around. But for now, they’re holding Donaldson back.
“They want to take a little bit more of a cautious route than I would want to take,” Donaldson said. “Ultimately, it’s their decision. They get paid to make those kinds of decisions. They’ve had a lot more schooling in the situation than I have. So, I’ll take their word for it for now. But I would love to be back tomorrow. I’m hopeful that I’ll be back tomorrow.”
It’s important to remember that this injury is not the same as the one that held Donaldson out during spring training. Both injuries have been in his right calf, but this one is situated on the outer side of the muscle, while the one he battled during spring was on the inner half. There’s also a substantial difference in the discomfort it’s causing the 2015 MVP.
“The last time it felt like somebody was punching me in the back of the calf whenever I was running,” Donaldson said. “This time, I’ve felt a lot more comfortable. I think I’m going to bounce back fairly soon.”
Donaldson’s battled calf issues a number of times during his career, and it’s an area he’ll have to pay particular attention to going forward. It’s not for a lack of preparation or conditioning, two responsibilities Donaldson takes very seriously. Rather, the 31-year-old simply has much larger calves than the average human male, something that doesn’t always work to his advantage.
“Maybe I need to go to a plastic surgeon and get them cut down a little bit,” Donaldson said with a grin. “It’s just an issue that I’ve always had—tight calves. We’re continually trying to find ways and methods to make sure that they’re okay. We’re doing our best to try to figure it out. We haven’t gotten a great grasp on it. But we feel like we’re getting closer.”
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It’s also worth noting that while the Blue Jays are only six games into their regular season schedule, they’ve essentially been on the road for eight weeks, with little downtime since the middle of February. Small, nagging injuries like Donaldson’s are bound to pop up.
The club has also had an unfavourable recent schedule in terms of playing surfaces. They went from the ancient turf in Montreal, to Baltimore, to Tampa Bay which has one of the hardest playing surfaces in the majors, and now to the artificial turf at Rogers Centre, where the club will play its next nine games.
“We haven’t had a break at all,” Donaldson said. “But just before my calf got banged up the other day, I was actually talking to our training staff and saying how well my body was feeling this year, as compared to last year with going through the same kind of schedule.
“But besides my calf, the rest of my body is feeling overall healthy for not having too many innings played in spring training. I’m very surprised in how that’s transpired. I feel comfortable where I’m at today and moving forward.”
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