Corporan, Stassi making strides after concussions

HOUSTON -- The Astros' banged-up catchers are on the mend.

Carlos Corporan, who suffered a concussion when he took a foul ball off the mask on Aug. 19, has been working out the last few days and hopes to begin baseball activities soon. He's not suffering anymore concussion symptoms, but doesn't appear to be close to coming of the seven-day disabled list.

"Everything is looking good" said Corporan, who definitely had more pep in his step than he did a few days ago. "I'm feeling better every day and have no more headaches. I'm happy to be back to normal. That wasn't fun."

Corporan chuckled Thursday while telling reporters he actually got a better score on one of the concussion tests than he did when he took it in Spring Training.

"I think it made me smarter," he said.

Meanwhile, Max Stassi, who was called up when Corporan got injured and suffered a concussion Aug. 21 when he was hit in the head by a pitch, isn't as far along as Corporan. He's still has occasional headaches, but they're not as bad as they were.

"I'm a lot better," he said. "I got a lot of sleep when I was left behind here [while the team went to Chicago] and the only thing is my balance isn't there and there's a little dizziness still. If it doesn't get better in a couple of days, I'll see a balance specialist."

Stassi is riding an exercise bike, but isn't sure when he'll return to the field.

"I never had a concussion before," he said. "I just thought your bell gets rung and you're OK in two days. That's not the case. I didn't know you get exhausted and all this stuff for no reason. We're going in the right direction, though."