Starlin Castro “mildly” strained his hamstring on March 2, and no one was concerned. It didn’t even affect Castro’s walk, he said. It’s Spring, so, out of an abundance of caution, Castro would miss 7 to 10 days.
Well, that was 13 days ago, and, according to Castro and Rick Renteria, the Cubs’ shortstop isn’t all that close to playing in a Spring Training game just yet. Le sigh. Fortunately, Spring Training is very long, and there still isn’t any real reason for concern.
Castro tells Jesse Rogers that he’s running only at about 40%, and took BP swings for the first time on Thursday. Whereas Castro had previously hoped to be back in a game this weekend, he now acknowledges it won’t be until next week at the earliest.
Castro is hoping to get in about 10 Spring games to be ready for the season, and that remains possible if he’s back by mid-week. As always, RR sounds more cautious and a little more indefinite about Castro’s return, but before we go saying this is a big setback for Castro, it’s worth pointing out that RR several days ago said Castro wouldn’t be back until next week. From his perspective, then, this all might be a reiteration of what he was always thinking.
In the end, Castro’s going to wind up having missed quite a chunk of Spring Training action, which is unfortunate, given his need to rebound this year at the plate. Still, he doesn’t need that much time to be ready, and he was always going to have to adjust on the fly once the season started.
Let’s just hope he’s back in games by late next week.