Baltimore Orioles: Update on J.J. Hardy’s Rehab Assignment

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J.J. Hardy‘s recovery from a shoulder injury has hit a minor bump in the road. The Baltimore Orioles shortstop was expected to begin a rehab assignment on Friday, but that will no longer be the case because Hardy will not be ready, according to Dan Connolly of The Baltimore Sun.

Hardy was penciled in for a rehab stint with Double-A Bowie, along with third baseman Jimmy Paredes, but after taking batting practice on Wednesday, Hardy took a day off on Thursday. Paredes will still make the trip to Bowie on Friday, then head to Triple-A Norfolk on Saturday, that also comes from The Sun.

This news can be taken one of two ways: 1.) That swinging the bat on Wednesday set Hardy back. This could mean that he isn’t recovering at the pace the Orioles had hoped. 2.) Hardy is coming along in his swinging program, and is merely taking a day off, like he might if he was still in spring training and conditioning himself for the regular season.

For now, it would only be responsible to believe the latter. There has been no indication that there is anything wrong with Hardy’s shoulder, and it would be wrong to start jumping to conclusions about what might be nothing more than a day off.

Looking forward, the Orioles need Hardy to be 100% if they have any hopes of a big season and going deep into the playoffs. If sacrificing a couple more days now means that Hardy won’t be suffering any lingering effects for the rest of the year, then him and management are doing the prudent thing by holding him off.

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