Cal Raleigh talks about going on injured list for first time: ‘It’s going to suck’

Cal Raleigh carefully sat down on top of the bench in the Mariners dugout at T-Mobile Park with a full crew of media waiting to ask him about his first stint on the injured list.

He didn’t wince or move gingerly to signal that his strained right oblique was causing discomfort. The only way that a person would know Raleigh was injured was that he wasn’t busy doing his meticulous pregame preparation for Friday night’s game vs. the Padres at T-Mobile Park.

“I’m just ready to get back as soon as possible,” Raleigh said.

While the discomfort in his right oblique area was enough to force him to accept a stint on the injured list, it doesn’t compare to the pain of not being able to be play and not knowing when he’ll be allowed to return to the lineup.

“It’s going to suck,” he said. “I tried to play through it. Unfortunately, what was best for me and the team was just kind of taking some time and getting this thing healthy.”

Raleigh is being shut down from all baseball and workout activities for a week. He is scheduled to receive an injection — likely a Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) or Cortizone — in the injured area in the next 24 hours. He will eventually head to the team’s complex in Arizona to work with the medical staff, and he will be reevaluated after the week of rest.

“We might have a day or two here just to see where I’m at after the shot, and see how I took it,” Raleigh said. “I think the best thing will be to head to Arizona and get right, and let these guys do their thing here.”

Raleigh underwent an MRI on the oblique area after the team returned from Houston.

“We just got the scans back for Cal,” Hollander said. “They were similar or slightly improved from what we had on the MRI from the fourth of May, which is encouraging. Obviously, he didn’t make it worse. Hopefully, we can get the lingering soreness out of there, and then he can resume baseball activities. We’ll go week to week with it. Right now, we don’t anticipate this being a long, long time, or anything like that. But we want to make sure that when he gets into a game, he’s doing it with full confidence and pain-free.”

Are there any regrets from the Mariners for not immediately placing Raleigh on the injured list when he first felt some discomfort in his side on May 1 after a swing?

Raleigh was scratched from the lineup the next day and missed a total of three games before returning to the lineup.

“I don’t think he would have let us not let him play,” Hollander said. “It’s hard to tell a player that says, ‘I feel fine, I’m ready to go,’ and then goes and takes swings and does things to show you he can compete in the pre-game work and in the game work. It’s hard to just say, “No, we don’t believe you, you’re too tough for your own good.'”

Raleigh isn’t second-guessing his decision.

“It’s hard to say,” he said. “I’ve never really dealt with an oblique before. All the guys in there, something is bugging them. Everybody’s going through something that you’re trying to fight through it — a small injury here or there. To be honest, I wanted to play, and I wanted to kind of see if I could do it and to what extent was it was going to effect me.”

Raleigh hopes this can be sort of a reset for a season that hasn’t started out in in deal fashion. He struggled to find his timing early in the season, likely a product of the truncated work and game reps that came with participating in the WBC.

He posted a .132/.233/184 slash line in 43 plate appearances over his first 10 games. He didn’t have a homer and struck out 20 times.

But over his next 20 games, he posted a .241/.315/.532 slash line with two doubles, seven homers, 13 RBI, nine walks and 18 strikeouts in 89 plate appearances.

That was followed by a brutal stretch where he suffered the oblique injury and went hitless in 38 consecutive at-bats.

“Obviously, the last few weeks have not been great, performance-wise and health-wise,” he said. “So just to take a step back and take a deep breath, relax a little bit, maybe watch the game from a different point of view and see where I can get better, what can I do better as a player, as a leader, as a teammate. You usually you don’t have that kind of time to reflect during the season, but in this scenario, maybe that’s something that I can do better. So we’ll find out here in the next couple weeks.”

Other injury updates

Reliever Matt Brash (right lat strain) looked dominant in his rehab relief appearance for Triple-A Tacoma, Thursday night at Cheney Stadium. Brash struck out the side with his fastball touching 96 mph.

Brash was scheduled to meet with the team’s high-performance staff and the pitching coaches to determine if he needed to make another rehab outing on Sunday or if he’s ready come off the injured list.

“If we feel like it’s best for him to have one more in Tacoma, we’ll do that,” Hollander said. “If he feels super confident, as does the training staff, that he’s good to go, then we’ll talk about what the right day is to activate him.”

Lefty Gabe Speier (shoulder inflammation) is scheduled to throw a bullpen session on Sunday. If he comes out of iit feeling good, he will make a rehab appearance on Wednesday, May 20.

“He really feels like he turned a corner last week,” Hollander said.

Sponsored

Outfielder Victor Robles (right pec strain) will continue his rehab stint with Triple-A Tacoma through the weekend and into early next week. The Mariners could reinstate him from the IL when they go out on the next road trip that starts on Friday, May 22 in Kansas City.

Right-hander Carlos Vargas (lat strain) is trending toward a return in late June after experiencing a setback in his throwing program.

Utility player Miles Mastrobuoni (calf strain) could likely return to game action in mid-June.

Infielder Patrick Wisdom (oblique strain) is finishing up his rehab assignment with Triple-A Tacoma. The Mariners plan to reevaluate his situation nexxt week.

Infielder Will Wlison (thumb fracture) underwent a recent x-ray that showed healing in the injured area. He will be cleared for baseball activity in the coming weeks.