The Braves plan to activate Martin Prado from the disabled list Friday for the second-half opener against the Nationals, barring any problems Thursday night at Double-A Mississippi.
Prado has missed 31 games recovering from staph-infection surgery in his right calf.
“Prado is good, really, really good,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said at Thursday’s workout at Turner Field. “His legs feel great. If nothing unforeseen happens in [Thursday night’s] game, he’ll be ready to go [Friday] and play third base.”
Prado will move from left field to play third base until Chipper Jones returns from the disabled list. He’ll also give the Braves a lift in the top of the order, where Gonzalez plans to bat him second.
“He’s a good player, and he’s going to make our team better,” Jones said. “You need your class clowns. You also need your intensity guys, and he’s one of our intensity guys, not to mention he’s an All-Star. So it’ll be almost like getting a free-agent pickup after the All-Star break.”
Prado went 4-for-21 (.190) with two RBIs in the first seven games of his minor league rehabilitation — six games with Triple-A Gwinnett and his first game Wednesday night in Mississippi.
Jones rehab update
Jones was told the arthroscopic surgery on his right knee would require two to three weeks of recovery time. Based on how it feels and his experience with a similar surgery in the past, he expects it to be not much more than two weeks. Jones is targeting the Pirates series, which begins July 25, for his return.
“This knee was 16 days when I did it in ’96,” said Jones, who underwent surgery Saturday to repair a torn meniscus and clean some wear-and-tear behind the knee cap. “Judging by the first five days post op, I don’t think it’s going to be much more than that if any.”
He’s eligible to come off the DL on July 24 in Cincinnati, but would likely wait until the team comes home to face Pittsburgh to be activated.
Jones, who has been riding a stationary bike, plans to begin light jogging and hitting off the tee Friday. He will build up to soft toss from there and hopes to take batting practice by early next week. He’s considering working out with the Gwinnett Braves while the Braves are in Colorado next week.
If all goes well, he might do a minor league rehab stint with Single-A Rome the weekend of July 22-24, but he said he may skip it.
Moylan begins throwing
Peter Moylan played catch Thursday for the first time since surgery May 17 for a herniated disc. He’s eight weeks into what typically is a 12-week recovery.
“I guess with no setbacks, it would be a month to five weeks,” Moylan said of building back his arm strength. “I don’t know how quickly they’re going to want to push me. But I haven’t felt anything in my back. It feels amazing.”
