J.D. Davis suffered a setback in his rehab last week due to lingering pain in his injured left hand, but the third baseman is hoping to be able to start taking swings again as soon as this weekend.
Davis told reporters on Thursday that the root of the discomfort is the ligament between his middle and ring fingers, which was revealed by a second MRI.
"What was really wrong with my hand, it wasn't really my finger, it was my collateral ligament between my third and fourth metacarpal," Davis explained. "It kind of had that grade one, grade two sprain, and we were a little worried about the capsule part of the middle finger knuckle, the big joint. The first MRI, we couldn't really tell exactly what was wrong, so we assumed the worst and took our time."
Davis last played on May 1 before going down with what was listed as a hand injury, one that the team hoped wouldn't require an IL stint. But now, nearly three weeks later, Davis is still trying to shake off the discomfort and get back to swinging a bat, though he is able to throw and play catch.
"The doctor recommended that we didn't need surgery, but to take time and take a couple days to a couple weeks off and then start swinging, and that's when I continued to do the rehab assignment," Davis said. "I came back and there was a little bit more inflammation on the second MRI in the joint, but structurally, everything is OK."
Davis said he hoped to swing a bat on Saturday or Sunday, but isn't sure of a potential return date if all goes well with his initial swings, or if he will return on his rehab assignment or come back to the depleted Mets, who have had 17 players land on the IL.
"Right now, the training staff and I are taking it on a day-by-day basis," Davis said. "We'll progress based upon how it's feeling and how the inflammation is, but otherwise, we haven't looked that far ahead. I can take ground balls, I can catch the ball…but the swinging aspect, my middle finger gets pulled toward that index finger, left to right, in which that collateral ligament in between the two metacarpals gets irritated."
Davis started his rehab assignment last week, but was out with a stiff neck shortly after. When he wasn't in the lineup again on Tuesday, it was revealed that he had returned to New York for further tests.
The injury-riddled Mets could use Davis' bat as soon as he's ready, as Davis was slashing .390/.476/.610 in 41 at-bats before the injury.
"I wish I could be out there right now," Davis said. "I'm dying of boredom, I'm dying of not being able to produce for my guys and my team. It's definitely frustrating. The only thing you can do is rest and give it some time."
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