Healing Zimmerman hits soft toss, fielding drills set for Monday

March 20, 2011 12:25 PM by Pete Kerzel View Comments

VIERA, Fla. - Ryan Zimmerman tested out his sore left groin by hitting soft-toss pitches before Sunday's game and said he felt no problems with the nagging injury that has sidelined him since Monday.

"I feel real good," he said "I think tomorrow I'm going to take some ground balls."

ZImmerman is hesitant to put a timetable on his return to Grapefruit League games, preferring to wait until after a couple of days of strenuous baseball activity.

"We're just being very careful," Zimmerman said. "We want to get it completely gone so I don't have to deal with it at all. Honestly, if I can play three or four games in a row before I leave, that's all I need."

Manager Jim Riggleman said Sunday morning he was weighing whether it was smart to get Zimmerman into a game before Wednesday's scheduled off day, Washington's lone break of the spring. Zimmerman prefers to continue the conservative approach.

"We got to the point a couple of days ago where it felt good," he said. "Basically, what we said from the beginning is when it feels good, take another week."

Zimmerman doesn't feel the need to rush things, even though spring training is hitting its home stretch with the Nats' March 31 season opener against Atlanta getting closer.

"It's not really a decision to be made until (Tuesday) comes and we see how I feel. ... We'll figure it out Tuesday," he said. "It's not going to hurt anything to take an extra day. After the off day, we still have six games, so that's plenty of time. ... Obviously, the last four or five games is important because you can't just turn the switch on the 31st. The last four or five games when you start playing, grinding it out as a team and get going. I really want to be ready for that."