Philadelphia Phillies: Didi Gregorius injury history and updates

The Philadelphia Phillies have been without their starting shortstop for quite some time now, and it shows when looking at the on-field product. The Phillies are 8-13 since Didi Gregorius last played in a game (May 12th), and boast an offensive WAR of -3.4 during that timespan as well.

While the Phillies were able to get some good games out of rookie infielder Nick Maton, and more recently out of former Yankee Ronald Torreyes, the team would obviously prefer to have Didi on the field. After all, Dave Dombrowski forked over $28 million to keep Didi in town this past offseason, he’s viewed as a key piece to this team’s current core.

Philadelphia Phillies SS Didi Gregorius got one step closer to returning to action over the weekend.

Following Sunday’s win over the Washington Nationals, Maton was actually optioned back down to Lehigh Valley. The left-handed rookie had been struggling as of late, and with Torreyes now the clear go-to middle infielder off the bench, my guess is that the Phillies wanted Maton to resume seeing everyday action down in AAA, as opposed to just riding the bench in the big leagues.

However, the optioning of Maton did spark some questions in regards to Gregorius, and whether he would be returning to the active lineup anytime soon. According to Matt Breen of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Didi was in fact taking batting practice this past weekend – a pretty good sign.

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It’s also worth noting that Gregorius’ elbow is no longer swollen. No-one really knows what the initial injury was or what caused it, all we know is that Didi had a lump the size of a golf ball on the tip of his elbow. The swelling was preventing him from throwing or swinging a bat, with it just now getting to a manageable state.

While batting practice is definitely a positive development for Didi compared to where he’s been the past few weeks, the expectation is that he will still need a rehab stint of some sort before returning to the Philadelphia Phillies everyday lineup. Archie Bradley had to undergo something similar when he worked back from his oblique injury earlier in the season.

In the meantime, expect Torreyes to continue seeing everyday action over at shortstop. Not only is he currently batting .271 on the year, but he’s also arguably the Phillies best defensive infielder. Didi and Jean Segura both haven’t been the smoothest in their respective roles this season, whereas Torreyes has been a little more reliable. The Phillies defense (or lack thereof) remains the team’s biggest problem at the moment, so keeping Torreyes in the lineup makes sense.

Brad Miller, who just hit a mammoth home run on Sunday, could also see some more frequent starts in the infield. He can hold down second base on occasion, given that Segura is able to slide back over to SS.