Donaldson’s ‘dead’ arm not a big deal
Baseball may be the only TORONTO situation in life when “dead” isn’t that bad of a thing.
Case in point: Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson.
It became clear during Thursday’s home opener against the New York Yankees at Rogers Centre that Donaldson was having issues with his right shoulder. His throws to first were much weaker than normal. Early in spring training, Toronto manager John Gibbons said Donaldson’s shoulder “was hanging a little bit.” Clearly, seven weeks later, the shoulder hasn’t completely healed. But after Thursday’s 6-1 loss to the explosive New Yorkers, Gibbons insisted Donaldson’s arm was just feeling “a little dead. But not injured.
“He was definitely a little off, so we may need to DH him a little bit more until that comes back,” said Gibbons.
“But we don’t feel it’s a big deal. It’s just dead.”
Usually when the word “dead” is used, it is a big deal. But not in this case.
For his part, Donaldson said the shoulder “feels good” and his throwing in the home opener wasn’t a big issue.
“I had some time on some plays, so it wasn’t really like I needed to (fire it to first),” Donaldson said. “One of the balls just kind came out of my hand funny. But I didn’t really have to throw it too hard today, so I didn’t.”
Donaldson said even though the arm has been weak some days since spring training began, he “can make it work” and his hitting isn’t affected.
“I don’t have any pain or anything like that, so that’s always good,” he said.
The club’s star third baseman said the Jays’ medical department has a number of programs he can do to get the shoulder back to full strength while he plays, adding he felt stronger as Thursday’s game progressed.
“It kind of felt like some days (in spring training were) really good and the next day ... maybe I’m overworking it some times,” said Donaldson, who went 0-for-3 with a walk Thursday.