DUNEDIN - Bullpen closer candidate Jon Rauch became the first medical casualty of Blue Jays spring training when he injured an ankle.
“He turned his ankle the other day walking down a flight of stairs,” manager John Farrell sid. “We’ve held him out of his bullpens. We just want to be able to be sure that he has passed some functional tests from a physical standpoint before we put him back on the mound.
“If he was a starting pitcher it would be a little different but since he’s a reliever we’ve got time on our side right now. We just want to be precautionary at this point and make sure there’s no lingering issues before we get him on the mound.”
“It’s his right ankle and he’s coming off knee surgery on the left side so we just want to make sure he’s not favouring anything.”
Rauch, who is 6-foot-11, has continued to throw on flat ground and will be back on the mound shortly. No other players have turned up on the medical reports so far and Dustin McGowan, continuing his long rehab following shoulder surgery, is the only pitcher with any limitations placed on him.
— Ken Fidlin
