Rangers' Josh Hamilton ready to return, but not 100%
BALTIMORE — Texas Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton is back with the club and set to return to the lineup Tuesday night against the Orioles.
Hamilton wrapped up a brief rehab stint Sunday on the road at Class AAA Omaha, flew to Baltimore after the game and finished some final preparation Monday for his return. He did some short stride work at Camden Yards and said he still feels discomfort in his hamstring during his normal stride, but is now healthy enough to return.
He doubled and scored Wednesday at double-A, then went 3-for-9 in three games at triple-A over the weekend. After arriving late Sunday night, the team decided to give him another day off Monday rather than rush him back.
Hamilton said sometimes the best way to recover from a hamstring injury like his is to play with it.
"I think right now it's comfortable to a certain extent," he said. "The biggest thing for me is going into the All-Star break and playing a few games under control, whether it be 80%, 85%, and just managing it and being smart. Getting a few days' rest, and then coming back and starting to get after it for the second half is really how I'm trying to think about doing it right now."
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"The ultimate goal is to have me for the long haul. Going through what I went through at the beginning of the season, being traded and coming back and playing that first week and a half, and then the hamstring happening, I want to be back and I want to play every day."
Hamilton, in the first year of his second stint with the Rangers, got a taste of big-league action in late May, when he went 6-for-22 with two home runs in seven games before the hamstring injury sidelined him.
Texas manager Jeff Banister said Hamilton's rehab was "somewhat shortened" after a few weeks off, but that after talking with the team's medical staff and Hamilton, his centerfielder is ready, if not 100 percent healthy.
"Every player in the clubhouse at this time of the year, they're managing something," Banister said. "Whether it's a dinged-up hand, a sore quad, there's always something."
Hamilton will rejoin a Rangers squad that entered Monday at 38-38, five games behind the first-place Houston Astros in the American League West. He could also add some punch to a lineup that already includes Prince Fielder, Mitch Moreland and Adrian Beltre.
"The presence and the potential is obviously there," Banister said. "This is a former MVP. He can shrink the ballpark in all directions. Exceptional athlete. I know that pitchers pay attention to him when he's in the lineup and where he's at.
"I know he's anxious about coming back. I know he loves playing this game. I'm sure there's some peace in playing this game for him. My observation in the short period of time I watched him play before he got injured (was) just how much fun I saw him have, not only playing but being in the clubhouse and on the field, in the dugout with guys. It's a special bond, a special place."
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