Miguel Cabrera is free to begin baseball activities. (Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports)
Detroit Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera was cleared for non-impact baseball activities and can begin hitting and throwing.
The Tigers are hopeful that Cabrera will be ready by opening day.
Cabrera’s surgically repaired right ankle was examined by Dr. Robert Anderson on Tuesday after a CT scan and deemed healed enough to move forward in rehabilitation. The next step is for Cabrera to begin running on an anti-gravity treadmill.
“He’s feeling good, he continues to feel better and better all the time, so he feels read good about it,” Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said Wednesday. “We don’t want to push him. We want to make sure he takes his time and feels comfortable until healing is all good.”
Anderson repaired a stress fracture and removed bone spurs from Cabrera’s foot after the 2014 season. The injuries bothered Cabrera last year, when he batted .313 with 25 home runs and 109 RBIs — his lowest batting average since 2008 and worst home-run total since 2003. He has a .320 career batting average with 390 home runs and 1,369 RBI.
