MILWAUKEE — Brewers center fielder Carlos Gomez reentered the Milwaukee clubhouse on Sunday with a grin, dirt staining his once-white game pants. He wasn't in the lineup for Sunday's game against the Twins, having returned on schedule from his stint on the 15-day DL, but he took some much-needed time before the game to reacquaint himself with the Miller Park basepaths again.
He might not be stealing any bases for the next few days, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said, but elsewhere, Gomez seems to be 100 percent healed from the hamstring injury that put him on the shelf.
"He's good to go without a doubt," Roenicke said. "I don't want to say that he's 100 percent. I know that in the outfield he's 100 percent, but I told him not to steal bases. . . . I think until he probably steals some bases, mentally he's going to have a bit of a question mark."
Gomez completed a short stretch of rehab starts for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers before returning to Milwaukee, and on Friday, Gomez seemed to get back on track, hitting a 412-foot, three-run homer to lift the Timber Rattlers to victory.
Roenicke said the possibility was there to start Gomez in center field, but considering Saturday's 3-for-4 effort from fellow center fielder Nyjer Morgan, Roenicke decided to give Gomez another day to get back in the swing of things.
"I was thinking there may be a possibility (for him to start) today when he came back," Roenicke said. "But two out of the next three days we have left-handers. . . . It gives him another day to maybe work on base stealing and make sure his confidence is there when he goes."
With Gomez coming off the DL, the Brewers were forced to option utility infielder Brooks Conrad to Triple-A Nashville to make room on the major league roster. Conrad had been struggling mightily in his time in Milwaukee, failing to register a hit in 22 plate appearances.
"Just didn't have any productions or results," Conrad said Saturday night. "It's just one of those things. It's part of the game. You have to contribute to stay around."
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