San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Bregman unsure when he’ll return
Alex Bregman felt a centimeter away from correcting himself. The Astros third baseman is meticulously in tune with his swing mechanics. He exited the batting cages before Wednesday’s game against the Rangers with “the best my swing has felt all year.” The second pitch he saw from Texas starter Jordan Lyles sat up in the strike zone.
Bregman’s excitement overflowed. He barrels these pitches out of the ballpark routinely. Wednesday went all wrong.
“Got a little excited,” Bregman said, “and if I don’t roll over a slider up in the zone and do what I’m supposed to do with it — hit it out of the park — I would have been jogging instead of hurting myself. So I’m pretty frustrated.”
Bregman bounced a double play ball to third base. He strained his left quad while running down the first-base line. Bregman limped through the bag and slammed his helmet upon entering the dugout.
“I was running great,” Bregman said Saturday. “Honestly, it was probably my best running form I’ve had, rewatching the video looked really good. I felt it at the top of my leg lift, when my knee got to its highest point, I felt my quad kind of tighten up and I knew right away it wasn’t good.”
Neither Bregman nor manager Dusty Baker is willing to share a timeline for the star third baseman’s return. Bregman did not know whether his strain is Grade 1 or Grade 2.
“It sucks. It’s not good,” Bregman said. “Hopefully I recover quickly. I’m still young, so hopefully that helps.”
Baker said on multiple occasions that Bregman will miss “a while,” but avoided any absolutes. Bregman kept the same demeanor on Saturday.
“Honestly there’s no timetable really,” Bregman said on Saturday. “It sucks. It’s unfortunate. I’m just going to trust the rehab process. I don’t really know. It’s going to be based on how I progress and how I feel. But there’s no real timetable yet.”