National Post (National Edition)
Jays staying cautious with Donaldson
Third baseman patient but keen to return from injury
TORON TO • The injuries aren’t the same, which means the timelines seem to be much different, too.
While Josh Donaldson’s February calf strain took a month to come around, the Toronto Blue Jays are optimistic their star third baseman won’t need anywhere close to that amount of time to recover from his second right calf problem in a sevenweek span.
Saddled with the tricky day-today label, the injury did, however, keep Donaldson out of Tuesday night’s home opener at Rogers Centre against the Milwaukee Brewers.
After tweaking his calf Sunday during the series finale against the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, Fla., Donaldson wanted to give it a go in front of the home fans, but he was overruled by the decision-makers.
“My calf ’s feeling a lot better to- day than it was even just yesterday,” said Donaldson, who did make a brief on-field appearance prior to the game to receive his 2016 Silver Slugger award. “With that being said, they want to take a little bit more cautious route than I would want to take, but ultimately it’s their decision and they get paid to make those kind of decisions and have a lot more schooling in the situation than I have, so I’ll take their word for it for now.
“I would love to give it a try, at least, but that’s not my call. I trust what they’re saying and ultimately, they’re looking out for the benefit of me, where I don’t really take much pleasure in thinking of the long haul. I would rather play today and see what happens tomorrow.”
That’s the gift and the curse with Donaldson. Sometimes, he needs to be reined in and forced to take a seat in order to not risk further injury with his hard-nosed style.
But calf problems are nothing new for Donaldson, who’s hitting a robust .348 with a pair of home runs in six games to start the season.
Take one look at the 2015 American League MVP’s softball-sized lower-leg muscles and you realize there may be some extra mainten- ance involved.
“Maybe I need to go to a plastic surgeon to get them cut down a little bit,” Donaldson joked. “On the real side about it, it’s just an issue that I’ve always had, kind of tight calves. It’s to the point now where we’re continually trying to find ways and methods to make sure that they’re OK and we’re doing our best to try to figure it out. We haven’t got a great grasp on it, but we feel like we’re getting closer.”
Even though Donaldson thought there was a chance he could return by Wednesday, the important part is no one expects it to take as long as the last one.
“This was more of kind of, I felt like, a fatigue factor where it kind of cramped up a little bit, versus the last time it felt like somebody punched me in the back of my calf whenever I was running,” Donaldson said. “I feel a lot more comfortable with the fact this is going to bounce back fairly soon.”
SANCHEZ A REAL GAMER
Blue Jays right-hander Aaron Sanchez is featured on the Canadian cover of MLB The Show 17, the newly released baseball game for PlayStation 4. For Sanchez, the game is more than fun. It helps him keep up with the major leagues.
“If I have time pre-game on my start, there’s an option where it shows all the games that are going to be played that day and you can go and pick the matchup in terms of pitchers, how they think the lineup’s going to be,” he said.