Red Sox Notebook: Kyle Schwarber to begin rehabbing hamstring injury sooner than expected

As soon as early next week, Kyle Schwarber could begin a rehab assignment that’ll bring him closer to his Red Sox debut.

It was a sooner timetable than some expected as Schwarber returns from a significant hamstring injury that has kept him out of action since July 2.

“It’s not going to be too long,” Schwarber said Saturday in his first press conference since being acquired from the Nationals. “We’ll probably go out and rehab here maybe pretty soon and then see how that goes and could be back before you know it.”

Red Sox manager Alex Cora said that by the end of the week the Sox will make a decision on Schwarber’s minor league rehab assignment, which could bring him to a big league return as soon as the second week of August.

Calling Fenway Park his home will be special, he said.

“I always say that there’s only a couple of real ballparks left in the game, and the rest are kind of stadiums, and when you think of Fenway, you think of Wrigley Field,” he said. “Those are iconic, historic places where there’s been a lot of history there before you ever even step on that baseball field. You already have a certain amount of respect before you even put on that uniform.”

The big question is how quickly Schwarber can learn first base and how difficult the transition will be for him.

A natural catcher, he transitioned to the outfield during his first year in the big leagues in 2015 and has played mostly left field since then.

“I’m going to go out there and keep taking groundballs, try to put us in a position to (try this) new position,” he said. “For me, I view myself as a pretty good athlete. I just want to be able to go out there and make sure you have the basics down, and as you keep progressing, you keep learning things. Obviously there is a sense of urgency here with where the club is at. I’m going to do everything I possibly can to make sure that if I’m going in there at first base, there’s not going to be a missed beat.”

Scwharber was red-hot before his hamstring injury. He hit 16 homers in a stretch of 18 games from June 12 through June 29 and hurt himself three days later.

“When you hit that many home runs, you just kind of sit back and laugh and just hope that feeling never goes away,” he said. “Just to get back out there on the field now, I believe hitting is a feeling. You just want to be able to keep that same feeling going to the box. If you go into the box and you trust your work and you trust your cage work and you trust your preparation on the pitcher and you step in the box and you know that you’ve got everything there, you’ve already got a slight advantage.”

Dalbec in a mental funk

With Schwarber coming back as a first baseman, that’ll certainly be the end of Bobby Dalbec’s playing time against right-handed pitching.

Cora indicated that Dalbec would still play first base against lefties. He has hit .261 with a .768 OPS vs. lefties this year compared to a .184 average and .571 OPS against righties.

Of late, Dalbec’s lack of confidence has been apparent in his body language on the field, and Cora thinks his struggles at the plate have carried over into his defense.

“I believe so,” Cora said. “You can see it. You guys see the camera shows him in the dugout, on the field. We’ve been talking about that. It’s getting to the point that you had your opportunity to play. Whatever, probably hit .330 or .210, it doesn’t matter.

“Now, we have to turn the page right away. We got 60 games to go, and the numbers will be the numbers, but I think people will remember you for what you do in the stretch run. He has a chance to be playing against lefties, and yesterday he actually put good at-bats against a lefty. It’s been hard on him, to be honest with you, but at the same time, we’re going to keep working with him.”

Darwinzon to the IL

There were a lot of moving pieces on the Red Sox roster on Saturday, as newly-acquired relievers Hansel Robles and Austin Davis were added to the active roster.

To make room, third-string catcher Connor Wong was demoted to Triple-A Worcester and left-handed reliever Darwinzon Hernandez was placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained right oblique.

“We don’t think it’s something that’s going to take too long,” Cora said of Hernandez’s injury.

Robles, a right-handed reliever, and Davis, a left-handed reliever, will immediately pitch important innings, Cora said.

“I think with Hansel, he’ll be our other Hirokazu Sawamura, a righty who can come in and shut down an inning, then come back for three more outs,” he said.

Marwin Gonzalez will continue a rehab assignment and is likely to rejoin the Red Sox in Detroit on Monday.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3C2PkaX