Mark Teixeira hasn't been seen on a baseball field since June, but the All-Star first baseman is making a comeback from wrist surgery and hopes to be ready for the 2014 season. He spoke on the YES Network's Hot Stove show to give an update on where he is in his rehab.
Teixeira has been out of his cast for awhile now and is currently working on simple things like range of motion and only making slow swings to get his body familiar with the swinging again. He has a schedule planned out and hopes to be focusing on strength and flexibility in December. By January he plans to start taking full-speed swings and will be working with Bobby Valentine (???) to start hitting off a tee. By February he will be hitting off a high-speed pitching machine and by March he will start batting practice. Tex said he's looking to get into some simulated games before hopefully returning to spring training games by the first week in March.
To better take care of his wrists and avoid further injury, he will no longer be using a weighted bat. He will also be looking to reduce the amount of swings he takes in a day and in a game, meaning he won't be taking as many practice swings, not that he'll stop swinging at pitches. He says that he will feel ready once he is able to swing and make contact on inside pitches, so he can drive the ball to the right field fence. That's probably the mentality that has caused his career to take a disappointing turn. Good to hear that hasn't changed.
He believes his injury stemmed from overuse, so the Yankees must be planning on giving him some extra rest throughout the season. Hopefully they are going to bring in someone who can handle a game or two a week at first base. They could bring back Mark Reynolds to play first and third, or Corey Hart to play first and outfield. It doesn't seem like the Yankees have much room for guys like Kendrys Morales, Paul Konerko, James Loney, Justin Morneau or Carlos Pena because they already have plenty of people who need DH time. They are unlikely to bring back Kevin Youkilis, but nothing is known about Lyle Overbay in 2014 so far.
Take a look at the video and look at that stupid face.
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