Right-hander Marcus Stroman took another step Thursday in his throwing progression as he works back from a fracture in his rib cartilage. He threw a 29-pitch live batting practice session at the Cubs’ Arizona complex, the team announced.
“He’s ahead of schedule from what I thought he would be,” manager David Ross said. “So that’s good news.”
Stroman was diagnosed with the injury less than four weeks ago. He has progressed rapidly since heading to Arizona last week.
He has a history of beating injury-timeline estimates. When he tore his ACL in March 2015, the Blue Jays expected he would miss the rest of the season. He was back in major-league games in mid-September.
“Little things can pop up and make you sore again or reaggravate the injury,” Ross said. “So it’s a lot of wait and see.”
The Cubs have a few other pitchers nearing returns from the injured list. Veteran reliever Brad Boxberger, who has been on the IL (strained right forearm) since May, has been with the team since last weekend in Cincinnati. He threw in back-to-back games on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Iowa last week and has been in a holding pattern since.
Relievers Brandon Hughes (left knee surgery) and Nick Burdi (appendectomy) threw an inning each for Triple-A Iowa on Wednesday. It was Hughes’ second rehab outing with Iowa and Burdi’s second since being temporarily shut down to address ulnar nerve irritation in his throwing arm.
Fulmer considers next steps
Reliever Michael Fulmer (strained right forearm) felt good coming out of a bullpen session Wednesday and was scheduled to play catch Thursday. He told the Sun-Times he’s set to throw another bullpen session Friday.
“We’ll see what happens after that,” he said.
He’s eligible to be activated from the 15-day IL on Friday. The Cubs have to decide whether they think a minor-league rehab assignment would be beneficial, knowing that recovery time was the biggest issue before he went on the IL. Fulmer would rather avoid a rehab assignment.
“I want to get back out there,” he said.
He has come back from a fair share of injuries in his career.
“If I feel good with the intensity of long toss, with the intensity of a touch-and-feel bullpen, with the intensity of a max-effort bullpen; if everything’s fine for that, I’m usually good to go,” he said. “But all I can tell them is how good I feel and let them do whatever they feel is necessary.”
Suzuki swinging scorching bat
Outfielder Seiya Suzuki entered Thursday on a hot streak. In the Cubs’ three-game sweep of the Giants, Suzuki went 8-for-13 with two home runs and nine RBI.
“This series has been as impressive as I’ve seen of him,” Ross said Wednesday, “because he has faced sidearm righties, sidearm lefties, guys throwing hard, guys throwing a lot of sliders, and he’s just in every at-bat.”
He tripled and went 1-for-4 against the Diamondbacks.
