True to his word, Dodger shortstop Hanley Ramirez is taking the first step to “shock the world” as he will be making his first rehab start at Rancho Cucamonga with the team’s Advanced Single-A affiliate Quakes on Saturday evening. Dodger manager Don Mattingly made the announcement during his pre-game media briefing in the Dodger dugout on Friday afternoon prior to the Dodgers 7-5 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Ramirez, as you may recall, claimed that he would return to the Dodger line-up “way before” the estimated six to eight-week recovery period initially reported by the Dodger medical staff and could return to the Dodger line-up as early as Tuesday, although Mattingly would not confirm exactly when Ramirez might return to the Dodger line-up.

Ramirez worked out at shortstop for about 15 minutes prior to Friday night’s game.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

“The one thing I want with Hanley is him to be comfortable out there on defense,” the Dodger manager told reporters. “He’s worked really hard on his defense and I don’t really want him to come back just to be back. All of these guys always want to come off the DL, they don’t want to be on it any longer than they have to be, but I want him to be ready to play and be able to play at a level that’s natural and coming easy, not where he has to think about throwing and how he’s going to grip the ball and things like that. As soon as he’s ready for that then we’re ready for him.

Ramirez actually began taking grounders with his hand still in a cast within two weeks of his surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb suffered in the final game of the World Baseball Classic on March 22. Since then, the cast has been shortened several times and he has been wearing a special splint for the past two weeks that allows him to grip and throw a baseball.

“The splint that he plays with has allowed him to do a lot of stuff,” Mattingly said. “It protects him and keeps him from re-injuring (his thumb), but he’s still playing with a splint, he has to play with that to be able to play.”

The biggest concern with Ramirez is his ability to grip the ball and make accurate throws, which he had no trouble doing on Friday afternoon. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Mattingly added that he isn’t concerned at all about Hanley’s offense, only his defense. He also confirmed that Ramirez will play shortstop and not third base, as some had speculated.

Ramirez will be fitted for a new splint before Saturday’s rehab game because the swelling has gone down considerably and his current splint needs to be tightened down with tape because it is getting loose. Mattingly added that Ramirez will continue to wear the splint even when he returns to the Dodger line up. “As long as he can throw natural I’m willing to play him.”

Because the swelling has gone down significantly on Hanley’s thumb, his splint had to be taped down to keep if from rubbing, which was causing him some discomfort. He will be fitted for a new splint prior to his rehab game with the Quakes on Saturday night. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

When asked if Ramirez might be ready on Monday night’s series opener with the red hot Colorado Rockies, Mattingly said “…that would be pretty optimistic.” He was a bit more evasive when asked is Tuesday might be a more realistic possibility. It just so happens that Tuesday is Hanley Ramirez bobble head night at Dodger Stadium.

Within a week of his surgery, Ramirez insisted that he would “shock the world” by returning way ahead of the initial six to eight-week time estimate. If he does return on Tuesday evening, he will have been out for just over four weeks. Ramirez also said that he would announce his return himself on Twitter.