Detroit — Casey Mize isn’t falling into the timetable trap.
On the injured list for the first time in his young career with a right elbow sprain, Mize isn’t going to look or think too far beyond what’s on his checklist for the day.
“One thing a lot of people have been telling me is, don’t get stuck to a timetable,” he said. “So I’m going to take this day-by-day.”
Thus, he doesn’t really know when he will resume his throwing program.
“There have been numbers (dates) floated around, but honestly, all that can mean nothing,” Mize said. “It could be earlier or it could be later. I’m trying to stay out of that. I mentioned the other day that playing the what-if game is not a good position to be mentally.
“Playing timetables aren’t either. I’m not going to marry a date.”
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Fair enough. For now he’s able to do most of his between-starts work – the weight room work, the stretching and the daily treatments on his elbow.
“I’m feeling good, given the circumstances,” he said. “Taking it day-by-day and I hope to get back as quickly as possible. I was feeling pretty positive going into the imaging tests. From what we heard from multiple people before we saw the images was positive, and he images just reiterated that.
“Now it’s just hoping there’s no speed bumps on the way back.”
Thursday is going to be an especially rough day for Mize. It’s his start day and he’s going to be watching Michael Pineda take the ball.
“That’s going to suck,” he said. “I want to be pitching. I miss contributing. Like I’ve said before, I like to provide value and contribute and I’m not going to be able to do that. And that sucks.”
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky
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