Blue Jays Devon Travis is making progress with shoulder injury

Devon Travis took a positive step forward in reaching his targeted mid-May return date.

A familiar face took the field during pre-game warm-ups in Dunedin today.

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Devon Travis took ground balls at second base with the team for the first time this spring — an encouraging sign as he continues to rehab from off-season shoulder surgery.

Sportsnet’s Barry Davis reported that Travis has been taking ground balls over the last seven days and started throwing a couple weeks ago. His range of motion appears to be improving.

His injury stemmed from one of his 239 plate appearances last season, meaning Travis’ ability to swing the bat will be the defining mark as to how far he has come along.

It’s a good sign, but he is clearly far from game-ready. A mid-May return would see him miss roughly 40 games, adding to the 100 games he missed last season. A healthy Devon Travis would be a quite the boost to the Blue Jays middle-infield depth as we have yet to see the powerful Travis and the new-and-improved bat of Ryan Goins share time at second.

Until then, Darwin Barney will need to handle the backup duties. After signing him to a major-league deal, the Blue Jays continued to look elsewhere when the New York Mets released Ruben Tejada. It will be interesting to see what role he falls into once Travis does return in the next several weeks.