» Injury Recovery

Twin Catcher Joe Mauer hasn’t picked up a baseball.

That was until two days ago.

For the first time since his surgery last December 22, Mauer played a little bit of catch on Friday.
“It was good just to get on the field,” Mauer said.

Mauer knows that his playing time, as well as his performance will be limited when Spring Training starts, mainly because of the surgery which had hampered his offseason training, Twins pitchers and catchers reported at the Hammond Stadium clubhouse Sunday and Mauer had said that he was just too undecided of what he will do when the group’s first official workout starts on Monday.

“I should find that out in a little bit,” Mauer said Sunday afternoon, as he planned to talk to the club’s medical staff.
Doctors found some kidney obstruction after Mauer complained that he was experiencing back pains during the offseason. Even in this predicament, he still played the final six weeks of the 2008 season.

Mauer said he gained about 5 or 10 pounds during the offseason because of his limited conditioning.
Exercise wise, Mauer said that he was able to do some cardio work on the bike and the elliptical machine, but with no running. He also added that he has been doing a lot of core exercises to “wake that area back up”.

Bill Smith, the club’s general manager said that Mauer has been cleared by his doctors and can resume his baseball duties although the Twins are expected to take it easy with Mauer.

“Our focus is still on getting him ready for Opening Day,” Smith said. “So we’ll proceed with caution as we would with any player that has had any kind of surgery or any kind of injury. We’ll just move a little more slowly with him. We’ll give him all he can handle and go from there.”

Spring Training had been extended to a week this year, due to the World Baseball Classics. In this regard, the Twins will only hope that Mauer will be ready when they face off against the Mariners this coming April 6.
“We have plenty of time for him to get ready,” Smith said.