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PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Pirates are hoping they'll have one of their best infielders sooner rather than later, but it may take more time than anticipated.
Pirates second baseman Nick Gonzales started his most recent rehab assignment with Triple-A Indianapolis on May 16, but has only played in four games during that time.
General manager Ben Cherington said on his radio show that Gonzales got hit in his hand during his first two games with Indianapolis and that they wanted to make sure he wasn't seriously injured.
He also said that Gonzales didn't suffer a serious injury but that they want him to get back fully healthy and into a consistent amount of playing time during his rehab assignment.
Cherington didn't have a date when Gonzales will come back to the MLB with the Pirates, but that they'll monitor his performance and how he feels going forward.
“What happened is when he started the rehab assignment, he got hit in the hand," Cherington said. "We did all the testing, there’s no fracture, there’s no break, but it was beat up pretty good, swollen to the point where it was just harder for him to swing in the way that he wants to and especially when a position player is coming back and trying to get back into a rhythm of at-bats and build some at-bats and gain some confidence during a rehab assignment. it just sort of felt weird to push him out there with his hand hurting that much. So that’s been the reason for the sporadic [schedule]. We just want to let that hand calm down enough to feel good so he can get on a run of playing time and at-bats, get back locked in and be in a position to come back and help us."
“We expect that to happen. We don’t have a specific timeline or date for that to happen. He’s kinda gonna tell us, when he’s ready to play, really regularly and when we’re seeing the at-bats look like Nick Gonzales at-bats then he’ll be telling us when he’s ready to come back.”
Gonzales suffered an injury during a two-run home run he hit vs. the Miami Marlins at loanDepot Park on Opening Day on March 27, which forced him out of the game.
He suffered a non-displaced fracture of the left ankle, which came from Spring Training, where he fouled two foul balls of his left ankle vs. the Tampa Bay Rays on March 19.
Gonzales went on the 10-Day Injured List on March 28, with Enmanuel Valdez coming up as infielder depth.
This is his first rehab assignment and he played twice this weekend vs. the Toledo Mud Hens, the Triple-A affiliate, but is 0-for-14 from the plate in his four games with Indianapolis.
Adam Frazier has served as the Pirates starting second baseman, with 39 starts out of the past 53 games.
Jared Triolo has also started nine games at second base for Pittsburgh, Enmanuel Valdez starting all three games during the weekend road series vs. the Cincinnati Reds from April 11-13, and Liover Peguero starting at second base twice.
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