"I was flying," he said.
OK, so Zimmerman wasn't exactly walking at normal speed, nor was he anywhere close to running speed. But this was an encouraging first step in the wake of Tuesday's surgery to repair a tear of the rectus muscle in his abdomen.
By all accounts, the arthroscopic procedure performed by Philadelphia-area specialist Bill Meyers went as smoothly as expected, and Zimmerman is expected to return to the Nationals' lineup in six weeks (mid-June).
"There was a decent tear in there that he fixed," Zimmerman said. "But with what he looked at in the MRI, it was exactly what he thought it was going to be when he went in there. Most importantly, he thinks that the timetable that they set before he went in there is right about the right time. So that's good to hear."
Zimmerman is being careful not to make any proclamations about the timetable for his return. For now, all he knows is that he's supposed to refrain from heavy physical activity for the next week, then slowly ramp things up until he's back to 100 percent.
He reiterated that the injury was far less severe during spring training, when it was a simple muscle strain. It wasn't until he slid headfirst into second base April 8 in New York that the muscle tore, ultimately requiring surgery.
Zimmerman also said he's been told the oblique strain that sidelined him the final two weeks of last season was "totally separate" from this injury.
He plans to take the train back to Washington Thursday morning to continue physical therapy and rehab at home, while the rest of the club continues its road trip to Florida and Atlanta. Watching his teammates struggle to produce at the plate while he's sidelined hasn't been easy.
"Obviously, I'm still a young guy. I've got a lot of baseball left to play," the 26-year-old said. "That's probably the most important thing, to stay with what they tell me to do. It's frustrating. I'm getting impatient not playing. But you've got to make sure you stay with it and do what they tell you to do."
8 comments:
Wait a minute, didn't they just say it was NOT what the MDs expected, it was not as bad? I'm confuddled.
Was he in shape at the start of Spring Training?
IF (which I doubt) it is true that we are talking about 3 separate injuries in less than 2 months of playing time, THEN what is the likelihood that Zimm is not training correctly and or hard enough to be ready to earn his money. FJB has a nice bit of calculus on just how much these injuries are costing in Cash....and they are likely very preventable OR the same injury that has not been handled correctly...again. See Flores, J.
JayB, only Zim knows the truth and he is sticking with his story. He had an ab injury last September that shut him down. Then he had a new ab injury at the start of Spring Training. Then he had a groin injury after that in Spring Training that kept him out 10 days. Then he was fine and tore the ab sliding into 2nd base.
If I were a betting man, I'm not buying but at this point, let's move forward and hope Zim will fix his core workouts.
I subscribe to SteveM's contention that these muscle pull injuries are from the design of his workout not the execution of his workouts.
I think it's more likely he's working out too hard, than not hard enough. He may well be emphasizing strength over flexibility, but I'm in no position to know that.
Players get hurt even when they do everything right. If he doesn't slide headfirst into second, maybe that injury never happens, and we aren't having this conversation.
The long term question is whether he's going to continue head-first slides, which is the very definition of stupid baseball.
You want to hope he gets smarter.
Anon8 is correct, what is done is done. I have a pretty good source and Zimm was definitely in shape over the winter and working hard with Philbin and others. It just might be that he indeed did overwork it and with that core group, once it is even tweaked, its almost impossible to rest and heal. He is young, he will follow the rehab and will be back in June. The way he slides will be a big question but from what I understand about the surgery, he now has a piece of mesh inserted which the muscles will attach to making the area even stronger. Big question I have is not about the past but what can we do to start hitting the baseball? Very discouraging these last two games.
Go Nats
Here's hoping for a long career in ball.
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