One day of facing live pitching was all Cody Bellinger needed to determine his readiness to come off the injured list.
He felt good and recovered well after upping the intensity by stepping into the batter’s box Monday, signaling to the Chicago Cubs’ center fielder that his two fractured right ribs can handle being back in the lineup. Bellinger, though, isn’t fully pain free, which takes a bit of time with this type of injury. That was not enough of a hindrance to delay his return, however.
Bellinger is expected to be the designated hitter Tuesday and Wednesday against the San Diego Padres ahead of Thursday’s off day and will further assess how he feels before playing a game in the outfield.
“It’s a matter of pain tolerance,” Bellinger said Tuesday. “And I feel like I’m in a pretty good spot with it.”
Bellinger will wear protective padding sewn onto the long-sleeve shirt underneath his jersey to shield his two still-healing upper ribs. The padding is a precaution for when he might dive in the field and covers an exposed area as a left-handed hitter.
The Cubs optioned right-fielder Alexander Canario to Triple-A Iowa as the corresponding move. They also put reliever Daniel Palencia on the 15-day IL with a right shoulder strain and recalled right-hander Keegan Thompson from Iowa.
At the time they lost Bellinger, which coincided with right fielder Seiya Suzuki already being on the IL, the Cubs ranked fourth in the majors averaging 5.47 runs per game. Without him, and by extension their top two sluggers, the Cubs’ 3.46 runs per game put them 22nd but they managed a 7-6 record behind lights-out pitching from the rotation.
“You want to be able to put your best team out there as much as you can and getting Cody back puts us in a step in the right direction,” manager Craig Counsell said. “… Confident that it was a short layoff and we can get him back into the swing of things quickly. Just getting him back is a good feeling.”
Bellinger and the Cubs felt the 13-day absence wasn’t long enough to warrant a rehab assignment. He relied on mental visualization and hit in the cage then off a machine to stay ready for big-league pitching.
“It’s more mentally draining than obviously physically draining,” Bellinger said of the injury that sidelined him for 13 games. “But just watching and wanting to be out there every night and so glad to be back and ready to get back into the flow of things again.
“This one was pretty frustrating for me just how it happened (colliding with the brick outfield wall).”
Suzuki appears not far away from joining Bellinger in the lineup. He is making a rehab appearance at Triple A on Wednesday and Thursday, and Counsell anticipates Suzuki will be back with the team Friday or Saturday in Pittsburgh.
Palencia’s timeline to return is more murky. The Cubs were still in the process of diagnosing the issue in his shoulder. Palencia, 24, was scheduled to meet with doctors before Tuesday’s game and is expected to undergo further testing after X-rays were negative. Palencia felt tightness in his right shoulder on the last pitch he threw in the sixth inning when he allowed three runs in Monday’s 6-3 loss to the Padres.
“I felt like I was pitching really well,” Palencia said. “Hopefully it’s just a little hiccup. … I’m trying to play with confidence in all my games. (Monday) things didn’t happen the way I want to. But this is baseball. You have bad days, good days. You just have to learn from them and keep going.”
