Chicago Cubs: Update on the Willson Contreras hamstring injury

The Chicago Cubs All-Star catcher, Wilson Contreras is still a few weeks away from being back after injuring his hamstring.

Chicago Cubs Willson Contreras was out running in the left-field corner of Wrigley Field Wednesday afternoon before the Cubs took on the Giants. Contreras was performing different drills, trying to strengthen his injured hamstring.

On August 3rd, Contreras hit a rocket into the left-center gap that was caught by Brewers center fielder Lorenzo Cain, but as Contreras was running out of the box, he came up limping down the first baseline. This was a sight that no Cubs fan wanted to see. At the time everyone hoped that it would not be serious, but from just seeing the way he reacted in the dugout, it seemed that it would not be a minor injury.

Cubs trainers came out and said that it would be a grade two strain of his right hamstring. Setting the time-table to about four weeks for him to come back. It’s been roughly two and a half weeks since the injury and Cubs President of baseball operations, Theo Epstein updated Cubs nation on their All-Star Catcher on Wednesday afternoon.

Epstein said that Contreras is not close to a rehab start yet. He said that he is in the phase of strengthening the hamstring right now and is not ready for baseball activities entirely, however, but will be progressing to baseball activities soon. Contreras won’t have much of an opportunity for a rehab stint now because the minor league season ends at the beginning of September.

The Cubs don’t want to rush Contreras back too soon and possibly risk injuring that hamstring again if it is not fully healed. This isn’t the first time that Contreras has dealt it. Back in 2017, he injured that same hamstring. So there is an injury history there that they have to keep an eye on.

Contreras was having a very nice bounce-back year after struggling most of 2018. He was batting .275 with 19 home runs, 57 runs batted in, and an OPS of .890. Outstanding numbers after struggling last year.

It will be a huge boost for this Cubs to get their All-Star catcher back whenever that is. Anyone that has to watch Contreras play knows he’s the heart of this team by the way he plays the game with so much emotion.