Colby Rasmus begins rehab assignment Thursday

By Satchel Price | Jun 12, 2014

Apr 1, 2014; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Toronto Blue Jays center fielder Colby Rasmus (28) at bat against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /

Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Colby Rasmus will begin his rehab assignment with Triple-A Buffalo on Thursday night, according to John Lott of the National Post. He will serve as the designated hitter against Toledo in his first game back, then play five innings in center field on Friday before returning to DH on Saturday.

More from MLB

It’s unclear what the Blue Jays plan to do with Rasmus beyond this weekend, but Lott says the team will re-evaluate his status in the coming days.

Rasmus suffered the injury as the Blue Jays played the Los Angeles Angels on May 11, although it was initially described as “tightness” in his hamstring. After a few days of evaluation, it was announced on May 15 that Rasmus would head to the 15-day disabled with a strained hamstring.

After undergoing an MRI days later, the Blue Jays were mum regarding Rasmus’ status until manager John Gibbons told reporters in early June that he could start minor league rehab soon. Now a bit over a week later, we finally see Rasmus on the lineup card for Toronto’s top farm squad.

For the first-place Blue Jays, getting Rasmus back soon would be a nice bonus for an already strong team. While he’s been wildly inconsistent over the years, the 27-year-old is coming off one of his best seasons in 2013 — he posted a career-high 4.6 WAR, per Baseball-Reference — and hit nine home runs in 143 plate appearances this season.

With that said, Rasmus has posted just seven walks to 47 strikeouts this season, so the hamstring might have been bothering him. Striking out on nearly one-third of your plate appearances is a pretty ugly (and borderline unsustainable) look.