Reddick to work in slowly after rejoining A's

MINNEAPOLIS -- A's outfielder Josh Reddick is back in uniform, but that doesn't mean he'll have an immediate impact on the lineup.

Oakland activated Reddick from the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday and he joined his teammates at Target Field for the start of a three-game series against the Twins. Reddick was hitting .213 with 10 home runs and 46 RBIs before landing on the DL on Aug. 26 with a sprained right wrist.

Now he's back, but manager Bob Melvin said he'd wait to see how Reddick felt on Wednesday after taking a full round of batting practice before Tuesday night's game.

"He's not an option for me swinging the bat," Melvin said of Reddick's availability on Tuesday. "Potentially, we could use him in the outfield or pinch-running, something like that, but I would stay away from using him at the plate unless something crazy happened."

Reddick was hitting .264 with five homers and nine RBIs over his previous 15 games before going on the DL, but he knows it's not smart to rush back into the lineup and hope to pick up where he left off.

"I don't think it'll be 100 percent until the season comes to an end and we can rest it up," Reddick said. "Right now it's the first day of full batting practice and I'm just looking to see how it feels after that. If there's no pain then it's a good sign, but if I feel anything, I'm going to let somebody know. I'm not going to try to grind through it, especially with the way this team's been playing."

Reddick also spent much of May on the shelf with a sprain of the same wrist, but he said on Tuesday that he thinks he's on track to a similar recovery.

"It's feeling good," Reddick said, "like it did the first time I came off the DL this year."