Travis puts knee issues behind him
Jays’ infielder confident he’ll be ready for season
TAMPA, FLA . • The opposition on this afternoon was the Scranton Railriders, the Triple- A affiliate of the New York Yankees.
The venue was the sprawling minor league affiliate of the Jays AL East rivals and the game was played before a crowd of maybe 100 people.
But under those understated spring training coordinates on Sunday afternoon, Blue Jays second baseman Devon Travis may have taken his biggest step yet to get back to big-league form.
A quick moving and encouraging week of pain- free improvement for the player likely to bat leadoff in John Gibbons batting lineup has Travis believing he’ll be good to go for opening day.
Normally hustling to first base and being called safe on an error would be barely notable in a minor league game. But when Travis did so by unflinchingly running hard in the second inning, it was arguably the biggest news of the day for the Jays, given that the April 3 season opener is now just two weeks away.
“( Opening day) has been my goal fro the get- go,” Travis said after going 0- for- 4 in five plate appearances, the most notable being that sprint to first base which he reached safety ( thanks to a Railrider error). “It’s why I got down here so early to get my knee right. It’s still my goal and I see it happening.
“The biggest thing is my knee is going to tell me when I’m ready to go and it’s starting to tell me I’m ready to go for sure.”
There’s still work to be done as Travis continues his long and tedious recovery from a bone bruise on his knee, the after effect of offseason surgery.
Travis has to hone his eye to get up to speed to gamespeed pitching and beyond fielding drills at the Jays Dunedin facility, needs to take the next step defensively.
That will tentatively come either Tuesday or Thursday when he hopes to start at his customary second base in a minor league game.
“I’ve got to get out there ( in the field) in a big league game,” Travis said of his todo list. “I’ve got to play the field. I’m not going to be a DH in the big leagues so I’ve got to prove to them I can play both sides of the ball and wake up the next day feeling good and ready to go ahead.”
Gibbons and a lineup light on major- leaguers travelled south on Sunday to Bradenton for a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. That contest marked the first defensive appearance for utility fielder Steve Pearce, who started at first base in an 1111 Jays tie with the Pirates and drove in a pair of runs with a fifth-inning single.
Meanwhile, third baseman Josh Donaldson took a pass on hitting minor-league pitching after an aggressive morning in the batting cage and running back in Dunedin. Donaldson has been working on fielding drills at well, charging towards a game appearance — either minor league or major league — at some point this week.
“He’s answered the bell on everything,” Jays athletic trainer George Poulis said of Donaldson. “Hopefully there are no setbacks. He is in unbelievable shape. He just looks fit and he’s doing great.”