When the fracture on the wrist-end tip of Pujols' radius bone was discovered on June 20, the team announced that his recovery would be at least four weeks and possibly more than six. Pujols was expected to be in a soft cast for four weeks. Tuesday's return means he was ready to play two weeks before he was originally scheduled to pick up a bat for the first time.
Garcia articulated an opinion shared around the ballpark: Back already?
"I knew that hopefully it would be less than six weeks," Pujols said. "I told everybody around that I was looking forward to coming off (the DL) in two weeks, and here I am. … I have faith in God, training and working hard. That's the easy way to explain it."
Pujols injured his left wrist in a collision near first base with the Kansas City Royals' Wilson Betemit on Father's Day, June 19. The nondisplaced fracture in his forearm bone near the wrist was not discovered by the X-ray or magnetic resonance imaging scans taken of Pujols' joint; it took a second, more-detailed CT scan for team physician Dr. George Paletta to find the fracture. Dr. James Yocum, the L.A. Angels' physician, was sent images from the scans and affirmed the diagnosis.
General manager John Mozeliak said he announced a conservative estimate for Pujols' return because the doctors "are trying to give me the worst-case scenario, what we should be planning for."
In all of the exams, the structural integrity of Pujols' wrist was sound, showing none of the ligament or tendon damage that has caused other hitters, such as former Cardinals player Mark DeRosa, lengthy recoveries and surgeries from wrist injuries. Once the fracture healed, Pujols could return. That brought optimism.
"The one thing that we didn't take into account at that time was how good he was going to feel days later," Mozeliak said. "He had his grip strength, and therefore he started to experiment with the bat. There were a lot of indicators that this was going to be something that would happen sooner rather than later.
"Albert knows his body better than anyone, and he felt that he could push himself," Mozeliak said. "I think that did expedite the DL time."
In the days after the injury, Pujols described how his grip strength had not been diminished, his range of motion was not limited and the pain had subsided.
Steady grip strength is often a sign that the wrist is not significantly compromised, said Dr. Rick Wright, the team physician for the Rams and Blues. Wright, an orthopedic surgeon at Washington University, was not involved in the treatment or diagnosis of Pujols but spoke in general terms about the wrist injuries he has encountered.
"It is analogous to the fracture you get from being hit by a puck, when you get that crack that doesn't show up on an X-ray but does when you get one of those finer looks through an MRI or CT scan," Wright said. "It becomes more an issue of soreness and pain and functioning for the player. It acts more like a bone bruise, and not a fracture where the bone is in two pieces and needs that six or eight weeks to heal."
Pujols, who missed 13 games, felt healthy enough to urge a more aggressive timetable for his recovery.
"The pictures, the tests, the exercises, everything I was doing, they go by what I feel," Pujols said. "I'm not going to be stupid and lie to them that I feel good when I don't. That doesn't do anything good for me. That doesn't do anything good for my team."
Pujols is in the final year of his contract with the Cardinals and had notified the team he intends to test free agency at the end of the season. He returned from the DL with a .279 average, 17 home runs and 45 RBIs. In his only two previous stints on the DL, he returned earlier than advertised each time. In 2006, he was back from an oblique strain in 18 days, three fewer than the team predicted. In 2008, he collapsed running out of the box and had to be helped off the field with a tear in his calf muscle. Originally prescribed three weeks of rest, Pujols returned 15 days later and went four-for-four in his first game back.
Pujols took his first swings on this DL stint on June 27, seven days after the fracture was found. He increased the number and intensity of the swings over the next four days, and he put a glove on the injured wrist and took grounders at first base Monday. Word of his workouts reached his teammates, a few of whom then suggested he could return sooner than expected.
"Albert, he keeps surprising you," third baseman David Freese said. "He's obviously something special how he's that guy who stays on the field, and that's the first step to becoming the greatest hitter to ever play this game. He makes this train move. … We get here and see him doing drills, hitting, and that's when what you hope happens starts to become a reality."
Pujols had scans taken of the joint Tuesday to examine the fracture, and Paletta called Mozeliak around 12:30 p.m. to give official clearance. The fracture is not entirely healed, Mozeliak said, but there is no risk of further damage. Pujols will wear a protective guard when he runs the bases, and he could have his wrist and forearm taped while hitting and playing for at least another two weeks.
Pujols said if he was worried about further injury or what a check-swing might feel like, he would not be 'swinging as aggressively as I am."
He's back, already.
"It's better than missing six weeks," Pujols said. "It could be worse. I told you guys it could have been the whole season. It's two weeks. Everything happens for a reason."
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