The Boston Red Sox have been without Willson Contreras since Thursday, when he was hit in the hand by a pitch.
Contreras was not placed on the injured list and is trying to make a return before the end of the regular season. According to manager Chad Tracy, Contreras is "doing much better" and took some swings on Wednesday.
“He was able to swing pretty aggressively in the cage again today,” Tracy told MassLive's Christopher Smith.
Contreras was an All-Star this year and is a huge reason why the Red Sox turned their season around. At 34 years old, he is having a career year, hitting .276 with a .905 OPS. If the season ended today, he would tie his career-high batting average and set a new career-high in OPS. He also has a career-high 27 home runs and 81 RBIs.
The Red Sox will need him back in the lineup if they want to make a deep run, but there is no real reason to rush him back in the regular season. The Red Sox are pretty much locked into the No. 5 seed, and the only real benefit of bringing Contreras back for the regular season is to get him a few at-bats before the postseason.
The Red Sox will likely play the New York Yankees in the Wild Card Series. This season, Contreras has just a .673 OPS against the Yankees in 13 games. He will hope to get better results in the postseason, but that won't be easy if his hand is not 100%.