Right-hander Marcus Stroman took another step Thursday in his throwing progression, as he works back from a fracture in his rib cartilage. He threw a 29-pitch live batting practice session at the Cubs’ Arizona complex, the team announced.
“He’s ahead of schedule from what I thought he would be,” manager David Ross said. “So that’s good news.”
Stroman was diagnosed with the injury less than four weeks ago. He has progressed rapidly since heading to Arizona last week.
Stroman has a history of beating injury timeline estimates. When he tore his ACL in March of 2015, the Blue Jays expected he would miss the rest of the season. He was back in major-league games in mid-September.
“Little things can pop up and make you make you sore again or re aggravate the injury – whatever that is, outside of Stroman’s concerns,” Ross said. “So it’s a lot of wait and see.”
The Cubs have a couple other pitchers nearing returns from the IL. Veteran reliever Brad Boxberger, who has been on the IL (strained right forearm) since May, has been with the team since last weekend in Cincinnati. He threw in back-to-back games on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Iowa last week and has been in a holding pattern since.
Relievers Brandon Hughes (left knee surgery) and Nick Burdi (appendectomy) threw an inning each for Triple-A Iowa on Wednesday. It was Hughes’ second rehab outing with Triple-A and Burdi’s second since being temporarily shut down to address ulnar nerve irritation in his throwing arm.
Fulmer considers next steps
Cubs reliever Michael Fulmer (strained right forearm) felt good coming out of a bullpen Wednesday and was scheduled to play catch Thursday. He told the Sun-Times he’s set to throw another bullpen on Friday.
“We’ll see what happens after that,” he said.
He’s eligible to be activated from the 15-day IL as early as Friday. The Cubs have to decide whether they think a minor-league rehab assignment would be beneficial, knowing that recovery time was the biggest issue before he went on the IL. Fulmer would rather avoid a rehab assignment.
“I want to get back out there,” he said.
He’s come back from his fair share of injuries in his career.
“If I feel good with the intensity of long toss, with the intensity of a touch-and-feel bullpen, with the intensity of a max-effort bullpen – if everything’s fine for that, I’m usually good to go,” he said. “But all I can tell them is how good I feel and let them do whatever they feel is necessary.”
Suzuki swinging a scorching bat
Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki entered Thursday on a hot streak. In the Cubs’ three-game sweep of the Giants, Suzuki went 8-for-13 with two home runs and nine RBI.
“This series has been as impressive as I’ve seen of him,” Ross said Wednesday, “because he’s faced sidearm righties, sidearm lefties, guys throwing hard, guys throwing a lot of sliders, and he’s just in every at-bat.”
