Blue Jays’ Devon Travis inching toward weekend rehab assignment

Toronto Blue Jays second baseman Devon Travis is eligible to return from the 15-day disabled list on June 5th, and as of Wednesday morning, he appeared to be right on schedule. If all goes well in the next few days, Travis could be heading out to Buffalo for a weekend rehab assignment per Barry Davis of Sportsnet.

Shi Davidi also elaborated further, noting that Travis was seen taking groundballs at second base today and that manager John Gibbons reiterated his hope that Travis will begin his assignment this weekend as well.

Devon Travis was placed on the 15-day disabled list with shoulder inflammation on May 22nd, but the move was made retroactive to May 17th, the day after the second baseman last played for the Blue Jays. The injury is believed to have occurred on April 30th versus the Cleveland Indians, when Travis took a hard grounder off the chest. He sat out of May 1st’s game while the Blue Jays checked him for a cracked collarbone, but after tests came back negative, Travis returned to the line-up on May 2nd.

However after winning the American League Rookie of the Month award for April, on the back of an opening month that saw Travis hit .325/.393/.625 with six home runs and 19 RBI, the injury obviously bothered him in May. After the injury, Travis was held to a .185/.241/.315 slash-line with one home run and seven RBI. The Blue Jays opted to finally give him some rest on May 17th, but when he was still slow to heal, the Jays opted to place him on the disabled list in order to add Munenori Kawasaki to the roster

In Travis’ absence, the Blue Jays have used a mix of Steve Tolleson, Munenori Kawasaki, and Ryan Goins at second base, and while the results have been serviceable, they have been far from the levels that Travis had provided the Jays. The trio is a combined 14 for 58 while playing at second base, good for a .241 batting average, with Steve Tolleson mustering all six of the group’s extra base hits.

If all goes as planned, Devon Travis should be ready to return to the Blue Jays when first eligible on Friday June 5th, just in time for a three-game weekend series in Toronto against the Houston Astros. With the Blue Jays currently enjoying a modest win streak (three games) and sitting just three games out of first place, having a healthy Travis back in the line-up will certainly help Toronto mount a run on the division.

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