A month and day after he made one of the controversial slides in baseball history, Josh Hamilton will take batting practice prior to Friday's home game against the AL West leaders, the Los Angeles Angels.
When Hamilton slid head first into home plate on April 12 in the first inning of a loss to Detroit, it was the beginning of a terrible 9-17 stretch the Rangers are now in the midst of. He was estimated then to miss 6-8 weeks and not swing a bat for at least a month.
He took some swings with a real bat on Sunday after taking soft toss and fungo swings last week.
Hamilton will be a sight for sore eyes when he sets foot back on the field.
The Rangers lineup is redefining the word "struggling" right now, and although it'll likely take a week or two to get his timing back completely, Hamilton's presence in the lineup alone will bring a new dimension to a suspect lineup.
So far, Hamilton is right on schedule in his rehab. He's fielding, throwing and running without any problems. We're just waiting on that bat to come around.
On April 12 when Jon Daniels delivered the crushing prognosis, everyone automatically assumed the worst in terms of timeframe with Hamilton's history and how rough he's been on his body, but so far things are looking to be on a good pace.
