MIAMI -- Marlins first baseman Justin Bour took infield and batting practice prior to Monday's game, but he still isn't ready to see the field.
Bour, who hasn't played since July 2, remains day to day after suffering a high ankle sprain in Atlanta. Bour is in the fourth week of an injury that typically takes six-to-eight weeks to fully heal.
So, remaining positive, Bour said that puts him ahead of schedule.
"There are certain progressions you have to go through; certain things that you have to check off," Bour said of the process for making a return to the lineup. "I don't want to come back one day and be hurt the next. So we want to make sure I'm at a point where I can go out there and play nine [innings] throughout the rest of this playoff stretch."
Manager Don Mattingly did not entirely rule out a return at some point in the current six-game homestand.
"I don't want to go that far yet," Mattingly said of the possible return. "It's probably a 50-50 thing with that."
Still, there isn't a set date for his return, either.
"It's very frustrating not playing and helping the team win," Bour said. "My main focus is to just get healthy, and then when I'm good to go, just help the team throughout the rest of the year."
Bour had a rehab stint at Triple-A New Orleans that didn't go as well as he hoped, and the Marlins shut him down for a few days to try and recoup.
"Once he played a few innings, he got tight in the hip flexor, and his quad got tight; his Achilles is hurting," Mattingly said. "So we kind of restarted him. Hopefully he's going to be able to run, do some agility stuff.
"If he handles all that, then we'll try to get him maybe an at-bat somewhere and we'll see where we're at."