Jason Heyward isn’t chewing solid food yet, but he did get a pleasant surprise during a visit to the oral surgeon Tuesday. He was cleared to begin playing some catch and swinging at balls off a tee.
Heyward’s first “baseball activity” came less than two weeks after he fractured his jaw taking a Jonathan Niese fastball to the face Aug. 21. He underwent surgery Aug. 22 and has been wearing braces with rubber bands to hold his jaws in place.
Heyward tested out a helmet with a protective flap over his jaw and took some swings off a tee in the indoor cages Tuesday. He also played some catch with B.J. Upton in front of the Braves dugout.
“I was excited to get the process started,” Heyward said. “It happened sooner that I would have expected.”
The Braves are hoping Heyward can get some at-bats in instructional league and return to the majors before the regular season is out. They haven’t set any kind of a timetable yet, and Heyward has just said his goal is returning for the playoffs. This was an encouraging first step.
So was the fact that his diet is expanding too. Heyward is no longer on the protein shake and ice cream-only diet. He’s added some solid foods that have been pureed or ground up.
“I ate Chick-fil-A the other day, and I cried,” Heyward said.
