Between April and May, Yasmani Grandal had one of the toughest starts to a season of his career. He’s only spent one day with a .200 batting average, and saw his slugging percentage dip as low as .194 on April 21. It took him 30 games to hit his second home run, and 46 games to reach 10 RBI. But over the past week, Grandal has started to show life at the plate, capped by a 2-3, three-RBI night in the White Sox win on Friday.
So is this a sign that Grandal is finally turning a corner?
“No, not really,” Grandal said. “I still have the ability to be able to do something up here, even when I'm not fully there. I know when the situation comes that I like: having two out, late in the game situations. I think I've proven that in the past few years. But I guess to answer your question, no.”
While it may be surprising to hear, the truth is Grandal’s challenges actually began in July 2021, when he tore a tendon in his knee. The injury required surgery at the time, and a cleanup procedure after the season ended.
“We knew that Spring Training for me was going to be very important time, especially getting back on the field and getting as much catching in as I could,” Grandal said. “Then all of a sudden, as soon as we ramped up, the knee started kind of acting up and now we had to take it slow.
“Once that happened, now all of a sudden you start making little adjustments to still play and still get that playing time, but not the adjustments you are trying to truly take. It’s almost a fake feel. It happened last year so I know exactly what it is and like I said, it’s just a matter of keep on getting stronger.”
Getting stronger is the name of the game for Grandal at this point. Little by little he’s getting there.
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“Getting my feet underneath me and as soon as that happens, it’s going to be full go.”
Grandal can’t say when he expects to finally turn that corner. But when he does, he’ll be able to tell, his teammates will be able to tell, even fans at home will be able to tell.
“As soon as it happens, you’ll be able to see it.”