The St. Louis Cardinals have been without several key players for a good amount of time.
Players such as Tyler O’Neill, Harrison Bader, Yadier Molina, and Jack Flaherty have all missed a good chunk of time.
However, O’Neill might be getting close.
O’Neill was placed on the 10-day injured list after a hamstring injury he suffered while running the bases at Fenway Park.
Once that healed, he went on a rehab assignment, but had a setback when he was hit in the right hand with a pitch.
But Katie Woo of The Athletic has an update on the Cards slugger that will make fans happy and hopeful.
Below is the tweet featuring that update.
Tyler O’Neill feels he’s “knocking on the door” in terms of being 100% healthy, and manager Oli Marmol did not rule out O’Neill returning to the #STLCards by the end of this series.
— Katie Woo (@katiejwoo) July 12, 2022
O’Neill Close To Returning From IL
This is good news for the Cardinals.
They’re going to need O’Neill back pretty soon.
The offense has been considerably better this year than in years past, but it has hit a bit of a snag lately thanks in large part to their injuries.
Luckily for them though, it looks like O’Neill could be back in the Cardinals lineup tomorrow for their series finale against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
O’Neill was just starting to get hot when he injured his hamstring in Boston.
He had previously been out with a shoulder impingement.
The 27-year-old is hitting .241 with four homers and 28 RBI.
Last season, he busted out with 34 home runs and hit for a career high .286 average.
The Cardinals are certainly hopeful that they can activate O’Neill on Thursday.
That should help boost their struggling offense just a bit.
From then, it won’t be long before Bader and Molina make their eventual returns from the IL.
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