Hart hopes for good results from MRI

PHOENIX -- Corey Hart will undergo a follow-up MRI scan of his surgically-repaired right knee at 9:30 a.m. MT on Friday. If it brings good news, he will lose the crutch he's been using to walk around and begin slowly ramping up rehabilitation.

The way Hart was talking Thursday, you wondered if he planned to spend the night in his car outside the clinic.

"I'm eager because I'm bored of the same stuff," Hart said.

Hart had a procedure on Jan. 25 in which the knee joint surface was debrided -- a process in which the surgeon induces bleeding around an imperfection to induce the body to fill in the gap. Hart also had a small meniscus tear repaired.

It's the imperfection -- Hart again referred to it as a microfracture -- that will be the focus of Friday's scan. Typically, a follow-up MRI is not scheduled until two months post-surgery, but Hart is having his after six weeks.

"I'm kind of a guinea pig because I've been bugging them a lot," Hart said. "I told them if they wouldn't do [an MRI], I'd go do it myself and bring it in and have them look at it.

"Even if it's not favorable, at least I'll know. I'd rather get it done just in case I can start doing more. I want to know if I can do that."

Hart is a notoriously fast healer and said the knee feels "great," but he expressed caution. Even with good news from the MRI, he is three-to-four weeks away from any baseball activity.

A good result would being another perk: Hart would be able to drive a car again. That would help, considering his driver in recent weeks, fellow first baseman Mat Gamel, will undergo a knee surgery of his own on Friday for a torn ACL. Gamel will stay in Hart's guest house during the early stages of his rehab.