Hardy “no chance” it’s a DL situation

J.J. Hardy received a Cortisone injection in his right shoulder Tuesday to help alleviate nagging discomfort in the area, but the shortstop said Thursday that there’s “no chance” he wouldn’t ready to start the season April 6. Hardy took Wednesday completely off and said he will do the same thing on Thursday. He last played in Monday night’s game against the Pirates and said he’s hoping to “get over the hump” and play on Friday.

“There’s nothing structurally wrong with it, it’s just taking a while to get over the hump,” Hardy said of his shoulder discomfort.  “Every year, I’ve said it before, that I’ve had it and it goes away the first couple of weeks of spring. This year it’s just taking a while. So, we are just basically kind of taking it easy and hopefully a couple days off will get over the hump and I’ll be fine.”

Hardy said he’s hoping when he throws Friday he will feel “like nothing’s wrong” and he will be able to go from there. He has never previously received a cortisone shot in that area. Asked if that meant the discomfort was worse than in previous springs Hardy said not necessarily.

“It just wasn’t going away,” he said. “So it was kind of like, ‘OK we’ve got a week left until the season, I don’t want to be dealing with this once the season starts’. So, if that’s a good thing to do then I’ll do it.”

As for him possibly starting the season on the disabled list, Hardy said there’s no chance.

“Even the way it was this spring I was playing through it,” he said. “I can play through that.”

Hardy is hitting .278 with a .381 on-base percentage, including a  homer  and two RBIs in 36 at bats spread over 13 games. He reiterated Thursday he only feels shoulder discomfort when he throws game-speed and it doesn’t bother him at the plate.