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Injured White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal said he is recovering faster than expected.
MILWAUKEE — Yasmani Grandal lined up near the leftfield line Saturday at American Family Field, then began running to center field.
The White Sox catcher continues to progress in his recovery from a torn tendon in his left knee.
“I feel good,” Grandal told reporters Saturday before a game against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. “We knew it wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be. We just didn’t think I would come back as fast. Just like my wife put it, when I get hurt, it’s really bad, but I recover twice as fast too. So far, so good.”
Grandal suffered the injury July 5 at Minnesota. He checked his swing on an 0-2 pitch in the sixth inning, hobbled out of the batter’s box and fell to the ground in pain. He underwent surgery to repair the tear two days later.
The Sox have no timetable for his return but are confident Grandall will be back during the regular season.
“Through the schedule, I don’t look so far ahead to where, ‘Hey, I want to be in uniform playing on this date,’ “Grandal said. “Just because of the ‘what if.’ You never know what’s going to happen. I like to know what I’m doing for this week, what I’m doing this day, the next day, concentrate on that week and we’ll look ahead after that week is done.
“I asked the doc, ‘What’s the fastest timeline for a guy to come back,’ and he said three weeks. For me, that’s a very unrealistic goal, but why not try and get it in three weeks (from the surgery). That doesn’t mean I’m going to be in uniform in three weeks, just a personal goal.”
The Sox are thrilled with what they’ve seen.
“We would have never expected this kind of improvement,” manager Tony La Russa said. “So it’s exciting.”
Grandal is slashing .188/.388/.436 with 14 home runs and 38 RBIs in 63 games. Even with the time missed, he entered Saturday ranked sixth in the majors with 60 walks.
Grandal was the most locked-in hitter in the lineup at the time of his injury.
He had hits in 10 of his last 12 games, going 12-for-37 (.324) with four homers and 14 RBIs.
“That’s probably the only thing that kind of sucked, I remember telling (hitting coach) Frank (Menechino) after I sat down, after it happened, I told Frank the only reason it happened is because I missed that first fastball, I should have hit it out and then just trot around the bases,” Grandal said. “It sucked. Definitely trending up, starting to feel way better at the plate, behind the plate. But as long as I can come back at the end and hopefully get to the point where I was heading toward the postseason, that’s huge. The postseason is where it counts.”
Grandal said the injury doesn’t hamper his catching.
“It’s got nothing to do with squatting, it’s got everything to do with extension,” he said. “I can be down on a squat just fine.”
Grandal said the next steps include “ramping things up a little bit more.”
“How fast I’m running, in the weight room, starting to hit, doing more catching stuff, maybe catching a bullpen here or there,” he said.
The Sox lineup is missing four starters because of injury: Grandal, second baseman Nick Madrigal and outfielders Luis Robert and Eloy Jiménez.
“Compared to everybody else, I’m happy and excited it’s just that,” Grandal said. “It could have been way worse. It could have been like Madrigal who’s out for the whole year. But thank God it wasn’t as bad asthem.”
Jiménez is rehabbing at Triple-A Charlotte and Robert is doing likewise at Class A Winston-Salem. Grandal knows the potential impact of having the two back in the mix.
“Forget about me, just having Eloy back I think is huge,” Grandal said. “Eloy is a huge part of our offense, a huge part of our team. Seeing Luis is on his rehab assignment and doing good, another guy that’s a huge part of our team. Having those two guys, I’ve played enough, we just want to see those guys on the field.”