LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Braves pitcher Mike Minor said he felt good Tuesday when he threw for the first time in three weeks since being shut down with a sore shoulder.
The left-hander did two sets of 15 throws from 50 feet, manager Fredi Gonzalez said, in what amounted to his first day of spring training again. Once he’s ready to pitch in games, perhaps within a couple of weeks, Minor will have to go through the same steps that a starter at the beginning of spring training, working up from two innings.
The Braves don’t have an estimated return date for Minor, but sometime in May seems a reasonable expectation.
Minor developed soreness in his shoulder a few days before what would’ve been his first spring-training start in early March. He was examined by Braves orthopedist Xavier Duralde and Dr. James Andrews, who both saw no structural damage in the MRI exam and diagnosed rotator-cuff inflammation.
Recurring soreness or stiffness in his pitching shoulder also slowed Minor for much of his career-worst 2014 season.
“He felt fine (throwing Tuesday),” Gonzalez said. “We’ll ramp it up. He starts over. I don’t know how long that will be.”
Simmons shakes it off: A day after getting plunked in the left elbow by a pitch, Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning Tuesday against Phillies right-hander Paul Clemens.
Wearing a protective guard over the elbow, Simmons went 1-for-3 give him a .467 average (14-for-30) with two homers and a team-high 12 RBIs in just 10 games. He missed the first two weeks of camp with a strained oblique and has wielded a hot bat since returning.
“His approach is up the middle, under control,” Gonzalez said. “I think it was an off-speed pitch, slider or a changeup, and he ran it out of the ballpark.”
