SAN DIEGO – Cincinnati Reds closer Emilio Pagán is rehabbing his hamstring injury this week like a guy who knows how desperate the Reds’ bullpen is to get any semblance of strike-throwing reinforcements for the beleaguered group.
A few days after saying he expected to start throwing again from a mound by the end of the week, Pagán opened the week in San Diego with his first mound session since hitting the ground in serious pain after a ninth-inning pitch May 5 in Chicago.
Emilio Pagán
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That June 8 bullpen was designed to be relatively low intensity, almost a game of catch, with the catcher in fact standing up.
“He was a little more aggressive than we wanted him to be,” manager Terry Francona said. “Which I think we knew (he’d do). He’s doing real good.”
Pagán, who said he felt “great” on the mound and again after his overnight recovery, is scheduled for a followup MRI on June 13 at home to determine whether he can be cleared for higher intensity.
“We’ve just gotta sit on him until we have more information,” Francona said.
The Reds’ bullpen has been a mess for more than a month, with performance issues compounded by additional injuries to setup men Graham Ashcraft and Pierce Johnson.
Pagán may be pushing to get back and help, but he’s also following orders and won’t offer even a range for how much he might be able to beat the original eight-week estimate for his injury.
“I told them in the beginning I don’t really want to talk about a timeline. I just want to attack this as aggressive as I can,” said Pagán, who pitched through a mild issue with the hamstring in mid-April before suffering the more severe injury. “And if I feel good and it’s ahead of the timeline, great.
“I want to approach this 100 percent based on how I’m recovering,” he said, “how strong I feel, what the movement looks like.”
Pagán, who earned a career-high 32 saves with a 2.88 ERA last season, expects to throw another “catch” bullpen before Saturday’s MRI. And after Saturday?
“I could be facing hitters probably Tuesday or Wednesday I would imagine (if the MRI results are good),” he said. “Then it’s, ‘What does a rehab stint look like, if I’m going on one, if I’m not.’ That’s obviously stuff that we’re gonna have to talk about.
“If I keep going like this, I’m gonna push to go real quick.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Emilio Pagán injury update: Early IL return in play for Reds closer
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