PHOENIX — There is a timeline.
Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. expects to begin swinging a bat full speed in two weeks.
He saw the doctor who performed his March wrist surgery Tuesday in Phoenix, underwent X-rays and got the word that will be the plan.
"This was the first time I came out happy after a doctor's appointment," Tatis said Tuesday afternoon.
After he starts swinging full speed off the tee, the progression to hitting pitches from a machine will be 10 days, according to Tatis. A rehab assignment is expected to follow. His stay in the minor leagues will depend on how he is feeling and how quickly he gets up to speed at the plate.
"It's timing, seeing pitches," Tatis said. "Once I have my timing, I feel like we're going to take off from there. ... I've been playing this game since I was a kid, since I have memory. So it's more about getting my body in (baseball) shape."
The timeline of two weeks plus 10 days plus even a minimal rehab assignment would seem to rule out a return immediately after the All-Star break. The Padres begin the unofficial second half (just 68 games this year) on July 22 with a three-game series against the Mets in New York.
There are several ways the Padres could attack Tatis' progression to a rehab assignment. It seems likely he will participate in simulated games at Petco Park before appearing in minor league games. That could get him the equivalent of a few dozen at-bats in a single day. Doing so would likely cut down on length of the rehab assignment.
"It depends on how we kind of configure it before he starts playing (rehab) games," manager Bob Melvin said. "And then how he feels during the rehab process. You certainly want him coming back when he feels good about how he's swinging the bat. More days with us is probably better than less days with us. He hasn't had a spring training. So it'll be literally day to day process. Once he starts that, we'll probably have it mapped out and then go from there on how we feel it's going."
