Kendrys Morales has begun
running on his own body weight and was cleared Friday to "ramp up" some baseball
activities, according to a person familiar with the slugger's rehabilitation
from a broken left ankle but unauthorized to speak publicly about it.
Morales,
who has not played since fracturing the ankle while jumping into home plate in
celebration of a walk-off home run on May 29, 2010, was in Vail, Colo., this
week undergoing tests from the doctor who performed the second of two surgeries
on his ankle last May.
Angels General Manager Jerry Dipoto had not spoken to his
medical staff as of Friday evening, so he did not want to comment on
Morales, but the source familiar with the first baseman's rehabilitation said no
restrictions have been placed on him as he builds up his daily work.
Morales had
been jogging on a “de-weighted” treadmill and hitting off a tee in Arizona, but
the fact that he has begun running on his own, even lightly, is significant. The
Angels, though, won’t be able to get a better read on Morales until he gets into
more baseball activities and begins running the bases aggressively.
If Morales
does return and regains his 2009 form, when he hit .306 with 34 home runs and
108 runs batted in, he could provide a lethal left-handed complement to newly
acquired slugger Albert Pujols in the middle of the lineup.
“The news has been
consistently positive, and we’re hopeful of a healthy return,” Dipoto said
earlier this week. “With the depth we have at the corners, we’re not contingent
on his return by opening day, but we’re optimistic that could happen."
-LA Times
