Angels shortstop Andrelton Simmons’ ankle remains too sore for him to play
There is no chance shortstop Andrelton Simmons will return to the Angels lineup for the weekend series against the Dodgers, manager Joe Maddon said Friday.
Simmons, out since July 27, still is battling soreness in his left ankle.
“We were hoping that it would be not as sore right now,” Maddon said in a videoconference. “The word is ‘sore.’ We just have to deal with that.”
Simmons sprained his ankle on an infield single in Oakland during the first series of the season. He lunged to beat out a groundball in the ninth inning of an eventual loss. His left foot landed on the back of the bag and he fell into the dirt, got up and walked around in an attempt to shake off the pain. He left the game with an arm around a team trainer.
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The scene was eerily similar to one that occurred in May 2019. On a one-out groundball to first base, he burst out of the right-handed batter’s box and tried to earn a single. But in lunging and overextending his stride, Simmons hit the front of the base with his left foot. He tripped and turned his ankle. He was diagnosed with a severe left ankle sprain.
Simmons, whose contract is up at the end of the season, returned in five weeks from that injury, ahead of the eight-week timeline he’d been given.
This summer’s injury didn’t feel as “extreme as last time,” Simmons said in late July.
Simmons didn’t participate in on-field baseball activities until this week. He has been taking batting practice at Angel Stadium and also worked out at the Angels’ secondary facility at Long Beach State.
Injured shortstop Andrelton Simmons could be back soon, but Angels manager Joe Maddon said he will find a way to keep David Fletcher in the lineup.
When he spoke to reporters for the first time since sustaining the injury, he said he still had “a little bit more to go.”
“I’m trying to listen to my body,” Simmons said Wednesday. “I know it might not feel 100% when I come back but I’m trying to make sure when I do come back, I am helpful to the team and like I’m not a hindrance, where I’m not moving around good enough.”
Simmons did not go to Long Beach State for workouts Friday but he was at Angel Stadium. Midway through the afternoon, he emerged from the dugout with a bat. He did a little dance as he talked to teammates who were waiting to participate in fielding drills.
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