Ryan Zimmerman Will Return From Injury Tuesday

Adam Kilgore:

So Zimmerman is looking to come back on June 14, which is about as mid-June as it gets. He’s currently on a minor league rehab assignment, during which he’s batted 6-for-12. He’s feeling good, he’s looking good, and, finally, he’s almost back in uniform.

So Zimmerman is right on schedule, and though the Nationals don’t have a minor-league rehab plan for him yet, that shouldn’t be far away. Zimmerman is getting close.

Where it seemed before that pretty much all that was standing between Zimmerman and a return to the Nationals was a minor-league rehab assignment, now he’ll have to go under the knife, and this will not be a minor operation. Based on that tweeted timetable, Zimmerman will be out for the next six weeks, at least.

The encouraging news about Ryan Zimmerman’s return might have been somewhat premature. Nationals beat writer Mark Zuckerman just tweeted this:

The Nats recently fell into last place, and have gotten virtually nothing from fill-ins Jerry Hairston and Alex Cora. What’s really a shame is that Zimmerman was off to an amazing start before hitting the DL with the abdominal strain.

It’s a small bit of progress, but it’s progress. Zimmerman will spend a few days moving around and throwing and swinging and all that jazz, and if all goes well and there aren’t any setbacks, then he’ll report for a minor league rehab assignment.

While no one has said anything official regarding Zimmerman’s availability to come off the disabled list on Monday, all signs point to him not being ready to return to the active lineup on Tuesday when the Mets visit Washington, D.C.

The Nationals were hoping that the strain would improve on its own with rest, but after an apparent lack of improvement following Zimmerman’s absence from the lineup on Sunday, the Nationals are going to give him the full 15 days on the disabled list.