CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Guardians manager Terry Francona provided injury updates on several players during his media availability Friday.
Austin Hedges (concussion protocol)
Hedges was seen throwing to bases and running on Friday afternoon at Progressive Field. Francona said Hedges seemed ‘more like himself’ after taking a foul tip to the mask against Boston last week.
“It’s a real good sign,” Francona said. “Today was a real important day for him. You try to keep adding intensity and workload and make sure he’s handling everything and then keep giving him more. So, we’ll see.”
Francona said Hedges would not necessarily require a rehab assignment once he’s ready to return to the field.
“If he needed it as far as getting him through his symptoms, we would certainly do that,” Francona. “I don’t know if that’s necessary.”
Oscar Gonzalez (abdominal tightness)
Gonzalez, who first experienced the injury Tuesday against Minnesota, and felt soreness when he arrived to the park on Wednesday. Francona said the rookie underwent an MRI on Friday afternoon and was not available against the Yankees.
The Guardians did not immediately have results of the MRI available, but said they would provide them postgame Friday or early Saturday. If Gonzalez requires a stint on the injured list, Nolan Jones could be an option to take his place and make his big-league debut in right field.
Jones hit a grand slam Thursday for Triple-A Columbus and has three home runs in 19 games since joining the Clippers in early June. Jones has 23 RBI and a .955 OPS over that span.
James Karinchak (right shoulder strain)
Karinchak struck out the side Thursday for Columbus against the Iowa Cubs with his typically dominant curveball and a fastball that touched 95-96 mph. The right-hander’s 30-day rehab stint at Columbus expires Friday. Francona said the club would have an update Saturday on his.
General Manager Mike Chernoff told reporters Thursday that Karinchak is trying to make sure he’s 100% back to where he was physically.
“Obviously it’s a combination of where he is and where our pitching is,” Chernoff said. “You’ve seen we had to make a lot of pitching moves in recent days, so we’ll sort of make a determination in the next couple of days.”
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