GLENDALE, Ariz. — White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal said he is making progress with his mild left calf strain, but he still does not know when he’ll begin playing Cactus League games.
“It feels good right now,” Grandal said Friday. “We still have a few hurdles to get over. More mental than anything. For the most part it’s felt really good. The plan is still the same. We’re going to take it a day at a time and we’re going to assess it and go from there.”
Grandal said the calf, which he injured about two weeks before the start of spring training while running, is not sore. And Sox training staff have assured him the calf muscle is stronger now than it was before.
“That’s the problem,” Grandal said. “We want to get it sore and we can’t. So we’ve been hammering it out as much as we can and trying to see if I get tired or get sore.”
Grandal has been participating in live batting practice and catching live BPs. Signed to a four-year, $73 million contract in the offseason, he remains confident he will catch in three consecutive spring games before Opening Day.
“Oh, we’re going to get in games,” he said. “We have it planned out.
“I need to make sure I’m able to play three days in a row. We need to make sure I’m catching at least seven innings on back to back days because if you catch seven you can catch nine. So, yeah, that’s that’s what we’re working towards.
“There’s no frustration at all. I’ve been hurt before. I guess the frustration is the fact that I got hurt now. I don’t think, ever since 2015, I haven’t been hurt. That’s the frustration.”
