Brewers Friday: Gomez ahead of schedule in recovery from wrist injury
MILWAUKEE -- Milwaukee Brewers center fielder Carlos Gomez's sprained left wrist is progressing quicker than expected and he possibly could return to the lineup in the coming days.
Gomez was evaluated by team physician Dr. William Raasch on Thursday to see if his timetable for return -- he was originally set to be shut down for a week -- could be bumped up.
The checkup went well, leading Raasch to clear Gomez for baseball activity. Gomez took dry swings Thursday and estimated he took roughly 60 swings off the tee Friday before seeing a few live pitches from hitting coach Johnny Narron.
Gomez is expected to take batting practice on the field Saturday and hopes to return to the lineup either Sunday or Monday.
"It just depends on how I feel (Saturday) after I swing (Friday)," Gomez said. "(Thursday) dry swings go well. Today, hit, soft toss and BP in the cage. Soft toss, I no feel nothing. Tomorrow, the same stuff again, and if I feel fine I go outside to hit BP. And if I hit in BP, then I'm close to playing."
Gomez felt what he described as a "pop" in his wrist while swinging at a pitch from Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner last Sunday in San Francisco. He continued his at-bat but eventually struck out swinging.
He proceeded to chat with head athletic trainer Dan Wright in the dugout before heading into the clubhouse. Gomez missed the rest of the game against the Giants and the entire series in Chicago earlier this week. He pinch ran in Thursday's series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals and was forced out at second base.
With Milwaukee in the midst of a nine-game losing streak, welcoming Gomez back would be a big boost with the club still tied for the second wild-card spot in the National League.
Brewers manager Ron Roenicke still will be cautious as to when exactly he inserts Gomez back into the lineup.
"It's what he can tolerate," Roenicke said. "We don't want him to do it again. He has to be confident when he's out there in a game. He needs to know he can swing -- hopefully not crazy -- but hard like he does and everything will be OK."
Does Roenicke feel Gomez, who likely swings harder than anybody else in the big leagues, actually can be successful with a toned down swing?
"I've seen him do that and succeed," Roenicke said. "When he had his back issue, he was hitting the ball the other way and it was actually a really nice swing. I think he can tame it down some and I don't think it will hurt his game to do it.
"I don't think you can ask him to just go up there and swing easy but instead of going up there and trying to hit it 500 feet, just take a nice swing and try to square it up - like he does the first two or three rounds of BP."
Closing in: With his next base hit, second baseman Rickie Weeks will become just the 12th player in franchise history with 1,000 hits with the Brewers.
Weeks' 999th-career hit came in the form of a pinch-hit, solo home run Thursday, pulling the Brewers within 3-2 at the time. By reaching 1,000 hits, Weeks will tie Jeff Cirillo for 11th on the Brewers' all-time list, with Charlie Moore 10th at 1,029 hits.
The 31-year-old also finds himself in the franchise's top 10 in games played, at-bats, plate appearances, runs scored, total bases, doubles, triples, walks, strikeouts, stolen bases, times hit by pitch and extra-base hits.
"It means a lot, obviously," Weeks said. "Numbers like that obviously don't really mean too much right now, but when you get done playing baseball it is something to show your kids, show your family, something like that."
New faces: As a reward for their work throughout the year, the Brewers will be adding a pair of their minor-league managers to the major-league staff in September.
Rookie level Helena manager Tony Diggs, who also serves as the assistant to the director for staff and player development, joined the Brewers on Friday and will stay with the team through Sept. 14.
Triple-A Nashville manager Rick Sweet will then join the coaching staff for the team's nine-game road trip to St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.
"That's certainly why, in Tony's case, that he's here," Roenicke said as to using this as a reward to coaches in the system. "I've talked to (first-base and infield coach) Garth (Iorg) and he's going to help out.
"The more bodies you have in here, you can get more specific with what you want to do. Garth is trying to line up four guys in the infield but by the time you get to the third or fourth guy, usually the pitch is coming."
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