The San Diego Padres have dealt with plenty of injuries this season with superstars Jackson Merrill, Fernando Tatis Jr. and now Xander Bogaerts all landing on the IL at some point.
Bogaerts suffered a fracture in his left foot on August 27 and has been on the IL ever since, with the Padres using Jake Cronenworth, Mason McCoy and Jose Iglesias at shortstop for the time being.
However, Bogaerts' injury was not season-ending, although his timeline was unclear earlier in the week.
"There's no firm timeline," Mike Shildt said, via Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune. "He's still in the process when he's not full-bore, 100% sprinting. How long that takes will dictate the timeframe."
On Wednesday, a new update dropped that shows Bogaerts is even closer to returning, per Kevin Acee.
"Xander Bogaerts did running drills, hit against pitchers and took grounders at shortstop the past two days in Arizona, where he is preparing to come back as soon as this weekend’s series against the White Sox," Acee wrote. "Padres manager Mike Shildt said Bogaerts ran at 80 to 85% intensity and is “still working through it.” Shildt said Bogaerts, who suffered a fracture in his left foot when he fouled a ball off the foot on Aug. 27, is scheduled to work on the field again today."
Bogaerts was taking grounders at Petco Park over the weekend, so things are trending in the right direction.
So far this season, Bogaerts is hitting .262 with 10 home runs and 49 RBI, although his batting was finally starting to come to life before he suffered the injury.
The Padres face the Chicago White Sox on the road beginning on Friday, and that had been a small target date for his return. After that, the Padres finish the regular season against the Milwaukee Brewers and Arizona Diamondbacks, but Bogaerts return could very well be right around the corner.