Major League Baseball

Ian Kinsler hoping to return soon

Published Jun. 10, 2013 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler has resumed baseball activities and wants to return during the team's longest homestand of the season.

Several things will have to happen before Kinsler is back in his familiar leadoff spot.

The three-time All-Star has been out since May 18 with bruised ribs and had a setback the team called a stress reaction in the same area on his right side even before resuming workouts.

Wary of another setback, Kinsler said he had no issues fielding or throwing Monday but wanted to wait a day to see how he felt after a short workout with manager Ron Washington.

The team's leadoff hitter hasn't started taking live batting practice, and he will go on a rehab assignment before he's activated. The Rangers were playing Cleveland on Monday night to start an 11-game homestand that ends June 20.

''This is probably the most frustrating part of the process because I took ground balls, I swung and I threw,'' Kinsler said. ''When you get to that point, you feel like you can play but you have to go through a process of making sure you're ready to go at game speed.''

Kinsler was initially injured when he was hit on a throw on a steal attempt against Houston last month, and he tweaked the injury when he flinched as he was hit by a pitch from Detroit's Justin Verlander a few days later. He appeared as a pinch-runner the next day before going on the 15-day disabled list.

Washington said the Rangers were three or four days from determining whether Kinsler was ready for a rehab assignment, which would probably last about the same amount of time.

''If he comes in tomorrow and it didn't affect him any, we'll go through it again,'' Washington said. ''We'll just continue to ramp it up. At least he's back to activity and so far there are no issues.''

Kinsler is hitting .302 with seven home runs and 20 RBIs.