White Sox' Abreu eager to get back on field

Being in pain, having to walk around in a protective boot, constantly being evaluated by doctors and the daily treatment and therapy are all making Jose Abreu unhappy.

But the rookie slugger really gets down in the dumps when the White Sox take the field.

"It's very hard," Abreu said Friday through a translator. "I don't do well being off the field. I like to be on the field. It's so hard; it's even hard to watch the games at home.

"We have a saying in Spanish - it's hard to see the bulls from far away. You want to be down there with them. It's very difficult, but we're dealing with it the best we can. We're just trying to do everything we can to get back to the field as soon as possible."

Speaking to reporters for the first time since he went on the disabled list Sunday with inflammation in his left ankle, Abreu was wearing a walking boot and hoping to resume baseball activities Monday.

"I see the doctors every day," said the 27-year-old first baseman, who still ranks among American League leaders with 15 home runs and 42 RBI. "They want to make sure that everything is going as it is supposed to be.

"What they have said is, hopefully things continue to be going the way they have been going and maybe on Monday we can start practice and stuff like that."

Abreu would be eligible to come off the DL on June 2, when the Sox open a six-game West Coast road trip against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"Everything that's been said right now, (trainer) Herm (Schneider) looking at it, the doctors looking at him, they seem to think he's going to be ready to come off after the 15 days," manager Robin Ventura said. "I just hear their judgment and go by that."

Abreu initially tweaked the ankle in spring training, and he was limping noticeably a week or so before going on the disabled list.

"I never felt it was that big of an injury, or that dangerous of an injury," Abreu said. "Once it took a little while to heal, we felt like it was probably better to get it healed right now as opposed to lose more time during the season. I always said God knows why things happen. They usually happen for a reason, so I'm OK with that.

"This is the first time that really I'm injured like this. I never experienced this before. But it's one of those things, I'm obviously going to have some caution when I'm out there. Nothing different, but just some caution out there."

Abreu's work ethic already is well known, but all of the long hours working on his hitting are likely to be curtailed when he does return to the White Sox' active roster.

"The first thing I assume we're going to do is my hitting routine is going to be adjusted a little bit," he said. "That's first and foremost. The other adjustments would have to do with being on the field and all that stuff, but we can make that happen. Probably the hitting routine, the amount of swings and things like that."

Playing more games at designated hitter would take some of the pressure off his ankle, but Abreu made it clear he prefers being at first base.

"DH is something I don't really like doing," he said. "We're going to do this the right way so when I'm out there, when I'm playing, I'm able to play on the field. Obviously, those decisions are meant for the manager, but me personally, I don't like DHing."

sgregor@dailyherald.com