BALTIMORE — After taking batting practice on Wednesday afternoon for the first time in two weeks, Jose Reyes says he’s making progress.
The Blue Jays shortstop, who’s been on the disabled list since April 28 with a cracked left rib, hit left-handed at Camden Yards and didn’t feel any discomfort, something he wasn’t able to do at all for the second half of April.
"I felt good," Reyes said. "I was a little bit scared to let it go. But I understand this is my first time hitting BP. It wasn’t painful, so that’s good."
Reyes said he didn’t extend fully on his swing, cutting it off at the end in order to not push his still-healing rib too far too soon. He’ll take batting practice again on Thursday in Houston and try to push his swing a bit further before attempting a full batting practice session on Friday.
"I need to take batting practice for a couple of days and feel real comfortable about how I’m hitting. I don’t want to go into a game with any doubt in my swing," Reyes said. "I want to know 100 percent that I can swing full speed. I don’t want to go and play one or two games and have a little setback. I want to make sure I’m good to go."
Reyes took the batting practice Wednesday in the early afternoon with a small group of teammates, while Blue Jays trainer George Poulis filmed his swings from behind the batting cage with an iPhone. Reyes watched the film afterwards and noticed he was cutting his swing off, which was preventing him from hitting the ball to the opposite field.
"I didn’t feel like it was me hitting," Reyes said. "I need to extend my arm to hit the ball the other way. But this was my first time outside hitting BP, so I was being extra careful."
Reyes says he doesn’t feel any discomfort fielding ground balls, running, sliding or hitting from the right side of the plate.
"The only problem I have is hitting from the left side," Reyes said. "And that’s a huge problem for me because I have to be able to hit from the left side if I want to be successful in this game."
The Blue Jays will reevaluate Reyes in Houston after a couple more days of batting practice and make a decision as to his next step. Blue Jays manager John Gibbons has indicated that Reyes will likely need to go on a rehab assignment before returning to the club in order to re-accustom himself to seeing live pitching, especially from right-handers.
"To be honest with you, I don’t want to go," Reyes said of a rehab assignment. "But I feel like I need it, because I haven’t seen a right-handed pitcher for like a month. So I need to know, before I come back to play major league games, that I’m going to be able to swing the bat from the left side with no problem."