Ryan Howard may be back this weekend, believes General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr. - MLB Update
First baseman Ryan Howard is all set to appear in his first game of the season. After playing rehab games for Triple-A Lehigh Valley and Class A Lakewood, he has gained the composure needed for a batter on plate.
Most probably, he will be in the line-up this weekend. As per the schedule, he will play in the field on Thursday for the first time. Howard will try to convince the management of his progress with regard to defence.
Philadelphia Phillies has started getting things coming to their favour now. With Chase Utley already back, return by Howard will strengthen them offensively.
Home-runs, which the club struggled to achieve from players consistently thus far, one can expect, are going to become a routine matter from now onward.
This assumption is not based on what both these stars have done in the past. Instead it is encouraged by the fact that they had great time in their rehab assignments.
Couple of days ago, Howard won one of his Minor League teams a match by striking a home-run. Besides, he was moving fine between the bases and was giving no signs of feeling any pain.
Meanwhile, Utley hammered a home-run on Wednesday, giving an impression that upcoming games will witness many more from his bat.
Final decision about Howard will not come until doctors examine him following his outing in the field on Thursday. Since he has yet to prove his rehabilitation in the field, he will be showing complete fitness for earning the call.
General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr. is impressed by the way Howard has performed in some of the rehab games. He believes that while Howard is expected to play for the Phillies within a few days, this timeline will not be bad for him considering the All-Star
break.
"If he plays this weekend (for the Phillies), it may not be the worst thing for him to get some time off. You just don't know how he'll react and what kind of adrenaline there will be. We'll take it one day at a time with him," Amaro Jr. stated.
The kind of developments taking place for the Phillies right now, one can fancy, they will be a transformed side after the All-Star break.
It will therefore be interesting to see how they are going to assert their contention for a potential spot in the post-season.
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