DETROIT -- Jackson Chourio sat at his locker at Comerica Park on Tuesday, wearing a red-light therapy glove over his left hand. He’s hoping to permanently trade that accessory for batting gloves in the very near future.
“I actually don’t need it anymore,” Chourio said. “But I figured it can’t hurt.”
Chourio, sidelined on the 10-day injured list since Opening Day, is back to being pain-free while swinging the bat over the past four days and is now preparing for the next step in his comeback from a fractured bone at the base of his left middle finger. Barring a setback, he is scheduled to hit on the field Wednesday afternoon before the middle game of the Brewers-Tigers three-game series, according to manager Pat Murphy.
That would be the next step toward a rehab assignment with a Minor League affiliate as soon as the weekend, Murphy said. That would be a final hurdle before a return to the Brewers’ lineup sometime in May.
“I feel really good, and I’m just happy that I’ve been able to progress,” Chourio said via translator Daniel de Mondesert. “I’m just hoping we keep on that same track.”
He said he missed hitting and has welcomed holding a bat again in recent days, when he’s been hitting flips and hitting off a tee. The biggest test is not actually returning to hitting, Murphy said, but remaining pain-free on check swings, since that motion leaves Chourio exposed to a tendon injury if the fractured bone is not yet healed.
Chourio was initially injured on a hit-by-pitch during a tune-up for the World Baseball Classic. He sat out a few days, but X-rays were negative, so he played in the tournament, and it wasn’t until the eve of Opening Day that a setback prompted more testing. That’s when the Brewers learned of the fracture.
Has his patience been tested?
“At the beginning, yes, but I think my perspective has changed a little bit towards it,” Chourio said. “More recently, I think the way I’ve seen it is some time to get my body more physically ready in other areas. I know I’ll be able to give the best version of myself whenever I do get back.”
The Brewers have missed him. Chourio, 22, is coming off back-to-back 20-20 seasons in his first two years in the Majors, and he was one of three significant losses for the Brewers in the early going of this season. They are also without Andrew Vaughn (left hamate surgery) and Christian Yelich (left groin strain).
Vaughn, like Chourio, resumed swinging the bat during this road trip, though he is back in Milwaukee. His timeline is different than Chourio’s because Vaughn must wait for his surgical incision to fully heal, and he must also regain strength.
“It’s difficult every day, when you [are missing] three guys you’d write in your lineup that are so critical to it,” Murphy said. “It’s a grind every day without them.”