Rangers' Moreland will swing a bat for first time since wrist surgery - SportingNews.com

Texas Rangers first baseman Mitch Moreland will swing a bat Monday for the first time since having surgery on his right wrist in November. He will hit off a tee, MLB.com reported.

“The only thing I’m behind on is I usually start my workouts earlier than this,” Moreland said Saturday, according to MLB.com.

Rangers first baseman Mitch Moreland had surgery on his right wrist in November and will swing a bat for the first time this week. (AP Photo)

Moreland, 26, hit .259 with 16 homers and 51 RBIs in 2011, his second season with the Rangers. He played most of the season with wrist pain, including the postseason. He had three hits in 29 at-bats in the division series, championship series and World Series combined. Two of the hits were homers, including his only World Series hit, in Game 5 against the St. Louis Cardinals.

“I wanted to play,” Moreland said, according to MLB.com. “I did the best I could to help the team win.”

Moreland’s postseason production was well below what he accomplished in his rookie season when the Rangers also made it to the World Series. He hit a team-high .462 in the team’s loss to the San Francisco Giants. For the entire postseason, Moreland hit .348.

The Rangers’ pitchers and catchers report Feb. 23 with the full-squad scheduled to report three days later. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported the Rangers weren’t expecting Moreland to be ready for spring training until early March.

“I’ll be picking up a bat this week,” he said, the Star-Telegram reported. “It’s not like I’m going to be taking 200 cuts. … I might be two weeks or three weeks off.”

Moreland’s rehab is receiving a little extra attention since the Rangers disclosed they had “preliminary talks” Friday with free-agent first baseman Prince Fielder and his agent, Scott Boras.

“It’s the business side of it,” Moreland said, according to MLB.com. “He’s a great player, and he can hit. All I can do is worry about getting healthy and being a part of this team, and helping them win and getting back to where we were last year.”