CLEVELAND -- Cleveland Indians outfielder Michael Brantley has been plagued by injuries for the better part of the last three seasons, and was hampered so badly by an ankle sprain suffered last August that he had to have offseason surgery to stabilize the ligaments.
Prior to the start of spring training, the Indians said Brantley “was progressing well and as expected,” and that he had “resumed straight-ahead running, along with long toss and cage batting practice. He will continue a graduated increase in activity over the next couple of weeks.”
Although manager Terry Francona is not going to rush Brantley back from injury, he has been impressed by the results of the work put in by the two-time American League All-Star outfielder.
“To me, Brant looks terrific,” Francona said after a recent workout. “My goodness sakes, he looks as in shape as you could be. For a guy that couldn’t run, he’s in great shape.”
A two-time AL All-Star in his nine-year career with the Indians, Brantley underwent surgery on his right ankle in the days following the team’s elimination from the 2017 Major League Baseball Playoffs, and was expected to need four to five months of recovery before resuming full baseball activity.
Over the last two years, Brantley has missed 223 out of a possible 324 games.
Healthy for the first time in nearly three years after back-to-back injury-shortened seasons, Brantley returned to his All-Star form over the first half of 2017 and smacked 69 hits in 228 at-bats (.303 batting average) with 15 doubles, five home runs, 31 runs batted in, 27 runs scored, 22 walks against 37 strikeouts and eight stolen bases.
Brantley ranked in the Indians’ top 10 in nearly every offensive category at the time of his selection to the MLB All-Star Game.
“I do admire him,” Francona said. “I do admire him. That’s a good word. I think we all do. We respect him immensely. He’s what you’re looking for, man. He’s a great teammate, works his (butt) off, a really good player. He just hasn’t been healthy, and that’s not due to anything other than playing the game the right way.”
Brantley finished the 2017 regular season with a .299 batting average, 20 doubles, one triple and nine home runs with 52 RBI, 47 runs scored and 101 hits in 338 at-bats. He registered 31 walks against 50 strikeouts and had a .444 slugging percentage.
In the postseason, Brantley went just one for 11 with one walk against four strikeouts as the Indians lost to the New York Yankees in five games in the American League Division Series.
“The one thing we told Brant was, ‘Everybody points to Opening Day, for obvious reasons. I get it,’ but in his case, (Brandon) Guyer’s case, it’s really just another day,” Francona said. “We need to be good enough and deep enough where we can handle them not being ready on time because what we want to do is get them back and have a chance for them to be themselves.”
