WEST SACRAMENTO -- Victor Robles joked this week at Sutter Health Park that he doesn’t necessarily “like” taking batting practice, when asked if he was nearing that step in his rehab from a left shoulder dislocation.
But he certainly enjoyed what took place before Seattle’s series finale vs. the Athletics on Wednesday, when hitting on the field for the first time since the injury on April 6.
“It was loud,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said.
Over roughly 15 minutes off a pitching machine, Robles homered onto the roof of the clubhouses over the left-center-field wall and regularly reached the wall with other swings.
Robles said he felt around “80 percent” as he continues to work back from the 60-day injured list, having begun swinging with both hands last week. He’s also taken in light defensive work and is throwing at 150 feet, but hasn’t yet reached the point of diving and sliding, which would be the next steps -- and by far the most demanding.
“I feel really good,” Robles said through an interpreter.
The Mariners had been targeting a September return for their spark plug right fielder, who suffered the injury when making an incredible catch into the netting in San Francisco during Seattle’s first road series of the season. That’d represent a nearly five-month recovery from the small fracture in the humeral head of his shoulder.
Because of that timeline, any setbacks might’ve cost him the season, but he’s hit every benchmark.
“If it was up to me I’d be playing out there right now,” Robles said. “But I understand their concern trying to bring it up, especially with the next step [being] sliding and diving. But I think if everything’s progressing well, I would say somewhere around the next two weeks.”
Because of how long he’s been sidelined, it’s likely that Robles will need a lengthier Minor League rehab assignment.
And with Luke Raley hitting the 10-day IL on Wednesday with back spasms, Seattle’s right-field depth is down to just Dominic Canzone (who has already grown into an everyday role) and Dylan Moore (who’s in a 2-for-58 stretch dating back to May 28), making Robles’ potential return that much more timely.
Raley is still experiencing pain after his back locked up on him again when attempting to go through BP on Wednesday, exacerbating an issue that became pronounced when shagging fly balls on Friday in Anaheim.
Raley, who missed nearly two months with a right oblique strain he suffered during early BP on April 28, intends to see a specialist in Seattle.
“My oblique feels fine, but I’ve just been having problems on the right side of my body since coming back, which it can all be tied together,” Raley said. “It also can be totally not associated. It’s just hard to say.”
One of the Mariners’ best players in 2024, when he had a .783 OPS and 22 homers, Raley is hitting .220/.343/.348 with four homers in 49 games this season.
“It’s just frustrating in general,” Raley said. “Going down for so long with the oblique and it being something I haven’t dealt with before and not knowing what to expect when you come back. Just been dealing with minor things here and there since I’ve come back, and then this. It just hasn’t stopped.”