Keuchel: Foot ‘feels good’
Lefthander says he’s on schedule to start spring training Feb. 14
Astros lefthander Dallas Keuchel said Saturday that he has been out of his walking boot for a little more than a week and his left foot “feels good.”
Keuchel, who the Astros said was diagnosed with a sprain after the World Series, recently began throwing and said he expects to begin pitching off the mound in early February, just as he would in a typical winter. He will travel to Florida on Wednesday to continue his offseason program ahead of the team’s start to spring training in West Palm Beach on Feb. 14.
Keuchel, who will be a free agent after next season, dealt with the foot issue during the 2017 season but didn’t provide details Saturday as to when he first experienced discomfort.
“I’m not even sure,” Keuchel said on the field at Minute Maid Park, where he and teammates Carlos Correa, George Springer, Lance McCullers Jr. and Josh Reddick led a baseball camp for about 200 children Saturday morning. “It’s a blur.”
Asked if the foot first bothered him during the regular season or in the postseason, he responded, “I don’t even know.
“We got through it. It wasn’t like I was going to miss anything. But (the sprain) was just an uncomfortable feeling and something you’ve just got to deal with if you want to get through it.”
As he readies for 2018, Keuchel said he has cut down on his usual amount of offseason cardio until closer to spring training. The 2015 American League Cy Young Award winner celebrated his 30th birthday Monday.
“What I’ve learned in my old age is you’re not as inclined to do everything that you once did when you were younger,” he said, “so I’ve tried to be smarter this offseason and learn about technique and everything associated with kind of keeping off my feet as much as I can.”