BRADENTON, Fla. – Austin Meadows arrived at Pirate City last Wednesday, set to do the rehab work for his latest hamstring injury. Meadows injured his right hamstring, which is the same one he hurt last year, only in a different spot.
“I’m on the road to recovery,” Meadows said. “I’m working on strengthening it. See where we’re at here soon. But right now I’m just working on getting that range of motion back and strengthening it.”
There’s no timeline right now for his return, or to know when he will get back in games. Right now he’s just working with trainers to see how he responds to certain exercises, while also focusing on lifting and throwing to keep his arm loose.
Because Meadows has had hamstring injuries before — this one being his fourth, and his second on the same leg — the training staff is looking into different types of exercises and strengthening activities to try and get him back sooner, while also preventing more issues in the future.
“Definitely [trying] to avoid this in the future, but avoid any other injuries,” Meadows said. “Especially with the hamstrings. With me having three or four hamstring [injuries] in the past, obviously it’s frustrating, but you’ve got to know that everything happens for a reason, and you’ve got to look into different things we can do to hopefully prevent that from happening.”
Waddell Throws Off the Mound
Brandon Waddell threw a bullpen this morning at Pirate City, throwing off the mound for the first time in exactly a month, since he went down with a flexor pronator muscle strain in his forearm. He tried throwing in Altoona shortly after the injury, but was shut down for a few weeks.
“It just felt nice to get back on the mound,” Waddell said.
He was throwing only fastballs and changeups, and has been taking it slow, only throwing off flat ground for about a week and a half now. He said that everything was feeling good after today’s work.
“It was really good,” Waddell said. “It definitely feels better than it did last time, and last time I would even say it felt good. But this time I’m confident in the strength coming back, and basically every aspect of it.”
Waddell might mix in some other pitches during his next bullpen session, but he’s not sure when that will be. He’s also not sure when he will return, but feels he should be able to get back to Altoona this year.
“I hope it’s definitely sometime sooner rather than later,” Waddell said. “Going off the mound is definitely a big step towards being right there in the game. I think it’s something that could happen quickly, but I think it depends on how I’m feeling, how I recover.”
Uselton Goes For a Second Opinion
Pirates’ second round pick Conner Uselton went to Pittsburgh over the weekend for an MRI on his hamstring, and the results showed that he has “a little tear” in the hamstring, as he described it. He’s set to get a second opinion, going to see another doctor later this week in Philadelphia. It seems unlikely with that description that he would be able to play again during the GCL season this year.
Alemais Returns to Games
Stephen Alemais returned to game action today, playing five innings for the GCL Pirates in his first game since May 18th. Alemais went down with a torn UCL in his thumb on a tag play at second base, and required surgery to repair it. He’s been rehabbing ever since, and now that he’s back in games, he’s close to a return to West Virginia.
“It feels good,” Alemais said of the thumb after today’s game. “After everything, no pain, I don’t feel anything on my thumb. Just getting my timing back is the biggest thing. I haven’t seen live pitching in seven weeks. But everything felt good.”
Alemais went 1-for-2 in the game. His progression going forward will be quick. He will be playing all of the GCL home games — tomorrow, Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday — and expects to leave on Wednesday to return to West Virginia.
