LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Andrelton Simmons has a strained oblique muscle in his left side, and this time the Braves shortstop didn’t make the mistake of keeping it to himself and trying to play through it.
He did limited work Thursday and was kept out of most of the Braves’ first full-squad workout. He will only take ground balls, stretch and run until the strained muscle in his left side feels better, but said it might be only a few days before he’s taking part in full activities.
“We’ll see how it feels tomorrow,” said the two-time Gold Glove winner. “It’s a feel thing. If it feels better we’ll start throwing and swinging and keep going, depending on how it feels. But it shouldn’t be that long. I don’t know how long, but it shouldn’t be that long.”
Simmons said he felt some soreness in the muscle after hitting before he came to spring training.
“I got it over a week ago, two weeks ago maybe,” he said. “It was so minor I tried to (keep working out) on it. Didn’t rest it enough and aggravated it, then rested it a day or two and went back on it, and it just didn’t go away. So I finally just decided to come here and take it easy and not aggravate it and let it heal so I can be 100 percent.
“It feels pretty good right now. Just being cautious. It’s spring training. First day. So, being cautious and trying to get it 100 percent.”
He and Braves trainers believe it’s only a minor strain, but they want to make sure he doesn’t worsen it by doing too much, especially more than six weeks before the regular season. Three years ago at spring training, Simmons was a top prospect trying to make the team when he strained the same oblique muscle midway through camp.
He had gotten off to a great start in Grapefruit League play that year and believed he had a chance to make the opening day roster, so he tried to keep playing through the injury. But his performance nosedived and the injury only worsened as he kept playing.
