No timetable for closer Jones' return

CHICAGO -- An MRI pinpointing the source of Nate Jones' issues as his lower back and an ensuing epidural has Jones feeling as if he's heading in the right direction. But Jones still has not done any baseball activities since going on the disabled list on April 4 and isn't sure when he'll be able to start throwing.

"I have no timetable whatsoever," Jones said. "I just want to feel 100 percent before I come back. We're just taking it a day at a time, making sure I feel good, making sure we get rid of all the symptoms before we start throwing again."

"But until he's out really throwing and doing something, then we'll start looking forward to that," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "Right now, he's just one of the guys that's in there getting treated by [White Sox head athletic trainer] Herm [Schneider]."

Jones admitted to being surprised by the back diagnosis, because he had no pain or symptoms in that area. The injury that slowed him down at the outset of Spring Training was diagnosed as a left glute strain.

Jones is doing strengthening exercises for his hip, glute and back, and he understands that his back could be a recurring injury. He's focused on just pitching healthy, which he wasn't able to do in his two outings this season, in which he didn't retire an opposing hitter.

"The discomfort, I felt like it was more in my hip area," Jones said. "It was when I landed mostly that it affected me. When I'm trying to throw a pitch and worry about the pain in my hip, trying to throw a strike, you saw how it ended. It didn't work out too well."