Manny Machado Remains Without Timetable for Return to Third for Padres

When Manny Machado will return to play third base for the San Diego Padres this season remains unknown. Machado is now six months removed from surgery to repair his right elbow extensor tendon, and remains the Padres' designated hitter.

Machado provided an update on his current status in his recovery over the weekend, as the Padres faced the San Francisco Giants.

"There’s not really a timetable on it. We’re just playing it by ear, playing it by how my body feels and how my arm feels," Machado told Dennis Lin of The Athletic. “I definitely do still feel stuff ... So it’s not 100 percent. Better than what it was last year, but definitely not where I want it to be. I know talking to the doctors … you’re gonna be more 100 percent in that second year (after surgery). It’s just a matter of being healthy and being good to go. So, just be as good as I can be, and little by little it just gets better every day.”

For now, Machado is working with the team's training staff to get back healthy to return to third.

“I haven’t even looked at my schedule, what it looks like," Machado told Lin. "But just take it day by day. I trust (Padres physical therapist Scott Hacker), I trust the training staff here. The most important thing is just trying to be healthy, trying to be strong, trying to be able to hold up.”

In the meantime, Machado is contributing in the team's lineup. In 12 games, Machado has hit .196 while recording two home runs, nine hits, eight runs, six walks and seven RBIs. Machado and the Padres face the Chicago Cubs next.