PITTSBURGH -- Devin Mesoraco hasn't gotten down in a catcher's squat for nearly a month. Reds manager Bryan Price is hopeful Mesoraco will get a chance to test out his left hip and the impingement that's limited the All-Star catcher to just six pinch-hitting appearances the last three weeks this weekend in Chicago. Price was hopeful of Mesoraco testing out the hip a couple of weeks ago.
Instead Price, Mesoraco and the Reds are having to be patient in a situation that can produce much impatience. If the Reds were in the American League Mesoraco could be their designated hitter. He'll get that chance this weekend against the White Sox as well as upcoming interleague series at Kansas City and Cleveland, but when the Reds are playing their normal National League game they are effectively without one of their main weapons.
As much as Price would like to have Mesoraco in the daily lineup -- and he desperately wants to have Mesoraco in the daily lineup -- he's not fretting about it. If Price learned anything in his first year as a manager a season ago it's that worrying over injuries won't help the matter. Until Mesoraco's hip says otherwise, Brayan Pena is the man behind the plate with Tucker Barnhart backing him up.
"I'm not hamstrung," said Price. "I haven't felt like I'm naked on the bench. I have a full-time catcher (Pena) and Barnhart when he's not playing. I've got a guy in Devin I feel very good about every time he goes to the plate in a pinch-hit opportunity, albeit it's only been a small grouping of those, and then I've got a pretty flexible bench when I've got Negron there and Boesch and Schumaker and whoever happens to not be starting at catcher. I can do a few different things. I haven't felt hamstrung. I'd like to have Devin in our lineup every day but I certainly don't feel hamstrung."
Mesoraco said prior to Tuesday night's 7-1 win over Pittsburgh he's not surprised by the length of time this injury is taking. Frustrated over the fact that he's injured, yes, but not surprised by the recovery process.
"This isn't what I expected going into the year," said Mesoraco, who had a walk and scored a run in the eighth inning Tuesday. "You don't ever want to get hurt but at the same time there's nothing we can do about it. It's in there. It's a problem and I just have to do whatever I can do to make it through the season and try to help the guys out."
Doing whatever, according to Mesoraco, has included undergoing platelet rich plasma (PRP) treatments, cortisone shots and lubricating injections. It could eventually mean surgery. Mesoraco said he's been told there's a four-month recovery process for surgery. That's why there's a reluctance to go that route. This injury isn't like last season when he missed time with a strained oblique and hamstring. Those were muscle issues.
"We're trying to do everything we can to stop that from happening," said Mesoraco. "We're just trying to do the best that we can to go out there and finish out the season before we would have to look at it getting fixed."
Mesoraco is 0-for-3 with three walks in his six appearances since last catching on April 12 against St. Louis. He didn't start that game but replaced Pena in the eighth inning after Pena left with a shoulder injury. It was after that game that Mesoraco told Price of the discomfort he was having. He hasn't played a defensive inning since. There aren't many other options (without choosing surgery) Price has with Mesoraco at the moment.
They're choosing to be patient in an impatient situation.
"It's Devin. He's a tough kid. If he's able to get back there and play, he's going to get back there and play without complaint," said Price. "We're just trying to let it all just work its way through. I'm hoping here in the next few days, as I said three weeks ago, we'll be able to get him behind the plate. But it's really one of those day-to-day things and it hasn't improved as rapidly as we anticipated."
