NEWSLETTER
Some very good news this weekend out of Arizona, where Cubs outfield prospect Alexander Canario MAY be putting the finishing touches on his pre-game-action rehab.
For many guys with lower-body injuries, the last bit of work to come back fully is the full-speed starting and stopping and turning of running the bases. Canario, working his way back from a severe ankle break and surgery (and shoulder surgery, too), was spotted running the bases this weekend out in Arizona by Rich Biesterfeld:
You LOVE to see that. As far as we know, Canario has also been taking live BP, so if the running drills all check out, it’s conceivable he could get into some Arizona Complex League games somewhat soon. Once he has his legs back under him, so to speak, my guess is he’ll head out to a lower-level assignment for a while (rehab stint, essentially) before getting back to Triple-A Iowa later this year. If he could get back to Iowa sometime in July, that’d be pretty awesome, all things considered.
How Canario performs this year, however, remains an open question. There could be a fair bit of rust, for one thing, and then there is the question of how his explosive actions will be impacted by the ankle and shoulder surgeries. On the plus side, Canario is still fairly young – he only just turned 23 last month – and was in exceptionally good shape when the freak injuries happened. Hopefully he won’t be too much worse for the wear.
Alexander Canario was one of the biggest breakout bats in the system last year, making stops at High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A, getting better and better as the year went on. In total, he hit .252/.343/.556/133 wRC+, and his 37 home runs led the system by one over Matt Mervis. If not for the injury suffered in winter ball, Canario probably would’ve seen big league action this year.
