MILWAUKEE -- Corey Hart had a big smile on his face as he took the field Monday afternoon. The recovery from offseason knee surgery has probably dragged on longer than he anticipated, but he's finally starting to see an end in sight.
Hart ran outside and took batting practice on the field for the first time prior to Monday's game against the Dodgers, but a rehab assignment still could be two weeks away.
"It's still little by little but I continue to move forward rather than go backwards," Hart said. "It's always positive. Hopefully I can (get) a lot done on this homestand so I can actually go on the road with the guys and then find a spot to go play."
Hart, 31, has been coming to Miller Park daily, spending four to five hours working on cardio and running on the treadmill. Right now he's trying to gain comfort with the knee while relearning certain motions that aren't coming naturally due to a lack of use. According to Hart, that's the only thing slowing his comeback down.
"Right now my knee is probably stronger than it's been in a long time," Hart said. "It's just everything I do now, it's almost like I have to relearn it. I was shut down for so long. Leg extensions, that's a chore just because my leg doesn't want to work. I'll sit there and have to try to force it to move.
"It's not like my knee is hurting. It's just because it won't do it. That's the challenging thing. I ran (Monday) but it was awkward just to make my leg go where it's supposed to go."
The Brewers aren't setting a timetable on Hart's return to the lineup, but manager Ron Roenicke feels his first baseman isn't too far off from heading down to the minor leagues for a rehab assignment.
Though Hart is eligible to come off the 60-day disabled list on May 30, it's unlikely he'll be able to start a rehab assignment on that day.
"I don't want to say it's out of the question," Roenicke said of Hart playing somewhere on May 30. "We are thinking somewhere in that first week (of June) that he will be able to do it.
"If he comes along fast, we'll be ready. I don't know how long that rehab will be. What we run into is if you are out on a seven-day rehab, you aren't playing all seven days. That's why it usually has to extend farther than that. With that injury, we can't just put him out there every day."
Hart is getting antsy, mostly because he watches the Brewers go through a rough patch knowing he isn't out there to help. He also understands he's not quite ready, as well. That's the frustrating part.
Though fill-in first baseman Yuniesky Betancourt started off hot, he's fallen into a slump, hitting closer to what the expectations of him were coming in. Coming off a season in which he hit .270 with 30 HR and 83 RBI, Hart's return will be a big boost to a Milwaukee lineup that has struggled with inconsistency this season.
"It's mental but I go through stretches where it's obviously worse than others," Hart said. "Right now it's a little bit frustration because the team isn't playing as well as we all want. It makes it a little more difficult because (you think) I have to get back soon because I can go out there and help.
"At the same time I know I can't overdo it because I want to come back and stay on the field instead of worrying about going back on the DL. Once I'm out there I'll be 100 percent and ready to go for the entire time."
If Hart requires close to the full 20 days allowed for a minor league rehab assignment, he could be out of Milwaukee's lineup until mid-to-late June, nearly a month behind the original target date for his return.
"I'm in great shape right now so that shouldn't be that big of a deal because all I do is workout and do cardio stuff," Hart said. "It will be more, for me, timing. It will just be a matter of seeing live pitching and being able to adjust."
Though he was happy with how Monday went as a whole, Hart stopped taking groundballs after just one. He's getting closer, but not quite there yet.
"I can take stuff at me right now," Hart said. "Even to my left, it's not a big deal. The stuff to my right is still trying to have my mind get over the fear factor of having to go that way."
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