LOS ANGELES -- Nolan Arenado’s path back to the Cardinals will take him through Jupiter, Fla., and the team’s Spring Training headquarters.
Arenado, who was placed on the 10-day injured list on Aug. 1 with a right shoulder strain, will report to the Cards complex in South Florida on Friday, where he will resume strengthening drills and batting practice sessions, manager Oliver Marmol said on Wednesday before his team’s series finale against the Dodgers. Arenado will be working to strengthen his injured right shoulder while also trying to regain his timing at the plate.
“He’s supposed to travel down to our complex in Jupiter on Friday to start working through some stuff,” Marmol said. “I don’t know if it is baseball activities as much as it is just him starting strengthening [on his injured shoulder].
“It’s mainly about getting the shoulder back to full strength, and in the process, he’ll be working on everything.”
Arenado, 34, missed two games in early July with a sprain of the index finger on his right hand and missed two more games right before the All-Star break with irritation in the shoulder. As a result of the injury trouble, his production has sagged, with a .175 batting average, no homers and just two RBIs in July. He has not homered since June 21 -- a 25-game drought without a long ball, which is just shy of his career worst of 29 games.
For the season, Arenado’s batting average (.235), on-base percentage (.294), slugging (.366) and OPS (.660) are at career lows for his 13-year career in the big leagues. He has hit just 10 home runs with 43 RBIs in 96 games.
The Cardinals have used Arenado’s injury absence to get more playing time at third base for Nolan Gorman and Thomas Saggese. Gorman has an RBI in three straight games and four since returning from the IL. He hit his 10th home run of the season in the Cardinals’ 12-6 loss to the Dodgers on Tuesday night.
Arenado, who is still owed $42 million over the next two seasons, could appear in Florida State League games with the Cardinals' Single-A affiliate in Palm Beach.
“We’ll see what his progression looks like,” Marmol said. “My thought would be, as we get closer [to Arenado returning to full strength], that he would want to [play in some Minor League games]. But right now, we just want to get him down there and figure out what the plan needs to be.”