« Pike Progressing | Main | Caligiuri's Back/Tommy To Do Mike & Mike »
June 23, 2008
Final Step for Caligiuri?
There have been several benchmarks along the road to recovery for Jay Caligiuri after undergoing surgery on his left wrist April 28. He had the hard cast removed May 31 and began his conditioning program the following day and he took batting practice for the first time last week.
No day, though, is more significant to Caligiuri at this point than Tuesday. He is scheduled to be re-examined one more time at 11 a.m. Another X-ray will be taken and should the results prove to be favorable he is expected to be cleared to play.
``The way I feel I am (ready to return),’’ Caligiuri said. ``We’ve got one more X-ray just to make it positive. The last one looked like the bone was totally healed. So it’s just looking for a little more growth on the bone and I should be ready to go. I’m looking forward to it. I’m getting mentally prepared for (today).’’
Caligiuri’s return will provide a boost to a what has proven to be formidable lineup that ranked fourth in the Atlantic League in hitting (.283) and runs scored (307) entering tonight’s series opener against the York Revolution. But, more importantly, it will provide the Bluefish with some depth that they have severely lacked throughout the season.
Manager Tommy John said that Caligiuri could be in the lineup as soon as tonight if he is cleared. John expects to utilize him at third base, second base, designated hitter, left field and right field.
Caligiuri played every position but center field and catcher last season for the Bluefish when he hit .320 with 14 home runs and career-highs of 33 doubles, 78 RBIs and 79 runs scored in 111 games. He finished fifth in the Atlantic League in hitting and fourth in doubles and on-base percentage (.414) and was named to the league’s postseason All-Star team.
``Getting Jay back will help tremendously,’’ John said. ``If they give him the go-ahead, what (team trainer) Jessica (Jewell) suggested, and it’s pretty intelligent, is just let him go and play and have him do two at-bats tomorrow, two at-bats Wednesday. Maybe take Thursday off to see how it is and then maybe play half a game at third base or second base on Friday. You just go into like you would at spring training and then in a week he’s got three, four at-bats and he gets his stamina back up.’’
Rich
Posted by Elliott on June 23, 2008 6:31 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://forum.connpost.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1415
