Yasmani Grandal has felt things in his knees in the past.
“As you go on, it just goes away but it never swells up,” the Chicago White Sox catcher said Saturday.
But when he twisted his right knee running during a drill in late February, he saw something that wasn’t typical.
“The fact that it was swollen kind of raised some eyebrows there,” Grandal said. “What’s going on that all of a sudden it can get this way?”
Grandal has been recovering from right knee inflammation. He played in his first Cactus League game Saturday, going 0-for-2 with a walk against the Los Angeles Angels at Camelback Ranch.
“I saw a guy who was a rookie in terms of enthusiasm,” Sox manager Tony La Russa said Sunday. “He was really happy to get back. He even felt that way in the ‘B’ game (Friday against the Texas Rangers).
“He’s missed it, like we’ve missed him, and it’s fun to see a pro look forward to doing what he does. And the fact that we need him adds to it. It’s a nice-looking lineup when he plays. It makes us deeper.”
Grandal said it was “nice to be out there competing” and that he feels “10 times” better than at the time of the injury, when it was difficult to walk normally.
“It took a while, just because I had lost some of the extension on it,” Grandal said. “You’re almost walking taller on one side than the other. Not being able to extend my foot the whole way, it kind of made it weird to walk on.”
Grandal said the results of an MRI “seem fine” and that “there was no structural damage or anything like that.”
The Sox are taking full advantage of the calendar to avoid rushing a full return.
“The break he caught and we caught is (the injury) was really early in the camp,” La Russa said. “This amount of games, if he can take the starts planned for him — not only as a hitter, as a DH, but catching — with his experience, he’ll be fine.
“The thing we have to look at is Mother Nature. Will she cooperate and keep him healthy? In two weeks, he can really get sharp.”
Grandal has participated in some catching drills during the workouts but with a slight adjustment.
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“I had to kind of switch around the way that I catch just a little bit in order to take some stress off of it,” he said. “Once I feel like it’s 100%, I can go back to my regular stance.”
He found ways to remain engaged while injured.
“Just because I haven’t been able to play doesn’t mean I haven’t been out on the field,” Grandal said. “I’ve been out to live BPs. I’ve been out to watch bullpens. I’m always watching guys throw, whether it’s at home or on the road. I’m always going through games. I’m always trying to figure out what it is that they’re trying to do and how we can get guys better. We have meetings in the morning so we can talk about what they did good, what they didn’t do good. Things like that.”
Still, he’s eager to get back fully in the mix behind the plate.
“There’s a lot of variables that go on once you’re playing and once you’re in a game,” Grandal said. “You’re trying to get this guy through an inning. How do we make adjustments? What pitch do we need to throw to make a certain adjustment? What location? Things like that and how he feels comfortable on the mound. The more repetition I can get behind the plate is probably the most important part of it right now.”
He said that repetition will be vital for him to be able to catch on opening day.
“That’s why we have the spring training that we have, which is about a month and a half of games,” Grandal said. “For me, having timing is everything behind the plate. Not having to rush on certain pitches or balls on the ground or in the dirt. For me, repetition is key.”