ST. LOUIS -- The Cardinals activated second baseman JJ Wetherholt from the 10-day injured list before their finale against the Giants, a 6-5 loss in 10 innings, on Wednesday afternoon at Busch Stadium.
Wetherholt, who had been sidelined since Aug. 30 with right wrist tendinitis, went through a normal pregame routine on Sept. 15, ahead of his activation. The club designated right-hander Peter Strzelecki and infielder Ramón Urías for assignment in corresponding moves.
While he’s not necessarily one hundred percent coming out of that work, the calendar is getting to a point that what you have is what you’re going to have -- and Wetherholt has been itching to get back on the field with the Cardinals.
“For the most part, yeah,” Wetherholt responded to whether Tuesday’s work put him in the position he wanted to be with the wrist recovery. “It’s kind of as good as I feel like I’ll be able to feel. Obviously, at this point, it’s like, you want to play, and I feel like there’s very little games left, so just trying to get back out there.”
The Cardinals and Giants endured a seesaw battle on Wednesday afternoon, but Wetherholt was lifted for a defensive substitution in the top of the seventh.
Of course, it wasn’t done on a whim -- the conservative approach to Wetherholt’s return from injury was baked into the game plan before a single pitch was thrown.
“Right now, what we’re going to do is treat it as a mini rehab rather than sending him out,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said Wednesday morning.
The Cardinals have a team off-day on Thursday, allowing for a natural day of rest for Wetherholt, as would be typical for a player at the outset of a rehab assignment.
Still, an early exit from a tight game felt a little different for the ever-competitive rookie.
“Definitely weird, for sure,” Wetherholt acknowledged. “Just gotta do what I’m told and trust that we’ve got a good plan for it.”
Wetherholt went 0-for-3 at the plate on Wednesday, with two fly outs and a strikeout, but felt that his timing was in a decent place in his first game back.
“I honestly didn’t think it was bad,” Wetherholt said. “I obviously wanted to swing today, so I came out swinging. Saw a couple good pitches to hit, put one decent swing to center. I thought it was fine.”
After Thursday’s off-day for the club, Wetherholt’s involvement over the weekend will largely depend upon his day-to-day recovery after getting back into the swing of things.
Prior to Wednesday’s game, Marmol acknowledged the team could continue to toggle his workload through the weekend, and didn’t take a potential start as a designated hitter off the table.
“There’s going to be some monitoring, maybe,” Wetherholt said. “I think it’s more just going to be workload. Just trying to not to overload the tendon because I think we’re trying to progressively heal as time goes on.”
While there’s an argument to be made for the tangible benefit to a rookie returning to the field so that he can feel the rigors of a 162-game season for the first time, the Cardinals aren’t rushing Wetherholt back with that benefit as the primary motivation.
The timing is simply a reflection of where Wetherholt is in his recovery, so there’s no time like the present to see him give it a go.
“I don’t see it as, like, it’s important to get to the finish line as much as -- miss time, do the pain and now he’s ready to play again,” Marmol said. “So, players play.”
Wetherholt wouldn’t have it any other way. The second baseman, who turned 24 on Sept. 10, is entrenched in the NL Rookie of the Year conversation, primarily on the strength of his defense. Despite missing a couple weeks, Wetherholt still ranks in the 100th percentile among all big leaguers with 22 Outs Above Average.
Wetherholt had been managing pain symptoms in his wrist for about a month before landing on the IL, but the pain worsened in late August, impacting his production at the plate as he took on added duties filling in at shortstop for Masyn Winn.
The plan had been for Wetherholt to manage his pain with treatment, but "my body just was not really responding to it," he said at the time.
Now, after a brief respite on the IL, the Cardinals are prepared for Wetherholt to ramp back up to see how his body handles the final stretch of the season.