Garrett playing in minor league games; Hassell targeting early April return

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – As established players get their bodies ready for the regular season and players on the bubble battle for the final available roster spots, Stone Garrett still finds himself just trying to get his body reason for a full ballgame of any type.

Garrett, still recovering from a broken leg and injured ankle seven months ago, continues to get closer to his goal. But he’s not there yet.

The 28-year-old outfielder is now playing six or seven innings in minor league games, able to play the field and run the bases. But he hasn’t been able to play the full nine innings yet. And he won’t be appearing in any Grapefruit League games before the Nationals wrap things up this weekend and head north.

“He’s still got to go out there and repeat that every day now,” manager Davey Martinez said. “I think it’s still going to be some time. We’ll see. I know he’s itching to play a game down here with us. But I want to make sure we do the right thing for him. He’s pushing himself, which is great. But I want to make sure we check all the boxes, and he’s ready to go when he’s ready to go.”

Garrett came to spring training hoping to be ready to start the season on time, and the Nationals didn’t want to discourage him from shooting for that goal. But over the ensuing weeks, it became clear that was too optimistic. He looks fine at the plate, and he’s able to play in the outfield. But running continues to be the biggest obstacle, not to mention the recovery from one day’s activity to the next.

“You can see a little bit of it,” Martinez said. “When he does it for six or seven innings, by the end of it you can see the little (limp). It was a bad injury. Honestly, I don’t think that’s going to go away anytime soon. But it’s about getting him to be able to perform every day. Not all of a sudden in the middle of a game, him saying: ‘I’m hurting, I’m sore.’ But he’s doing well. He’s definitely progressing.”

* The news is better on Robert Hassell III, who suffered a minor groin strain two weeks ago but is back hitting and jogging again.

Hassell hoped to be able to play in at least one more Grapefruit League game before the end of spring training, but it appears he’ll miss that target by a few days.

“I think Hassell’s going to be ready probably the first week or April,” Martinez said. “That’s good. Groins are kind of funny. We want to make sure he’s 100 percent.”

* Luis Perdomo, who was among the non-roster players reassigned to minor league camp earlier this week, has opted out of his contract and will become a free agent.

The 30-year-old reliever, who has 147 games of big league experience, was trying to make the Opening Day roster but faced stiff competition from a host of other veterans in camp on minor league deals. He wound up pitching in seven games, allowing six runs and 12 hits in seven innings.

* The Nationals will go with a bullpen game Friday, with Derek Law starting against the Astros. (That's weather permitting, though, because the forecast calls for heavy rain all day).

With split-squad games scheduled for Saturday, Jake Irvin will start the afternoon game against the Cardinals in Jupiter, with Josiah Gray starting the night game against the Marlins in West Palm Beach.