Updates on injured Mariners Brendan Donovan and Rob Refsnyder

SEATTLE – Brendan Donovan and Rob Refsnyder will join Triple-A Tacoma this weekend as they continue to work their way back from injuries.

Seattle Mariners general manager Justin Hollander on Friday said Donovan will be in the Rainiers’ lineup Friday as the designated hitter and Refsnyder will join Tacoma on Saturday.

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The plan for Donovan, who has been out since mid-May with a left groin muscle strain, is to play all over the field during his rehab assignment in preparation for a utility role when he returns. He’ll have some off days mixed in to his assignment and he may bounce between Tacoma and High-A Everett.

“Obviously, you don’t want to play 6 or 8 or 10 straight games on a rehab assignment depending on how it goes. Whether he stays with Tacoma as they go on the road or transfers to Everett is still (to be determined),” Hollander said. “… We’ll work on that over the next few days mostly about what’s the most convenient thing for him to get him ready to go more than it is about like the level of play for that. So, possibility he goes with Tacoma (on road trips), possibility he stays here and goes with Everett at that point.”

Hollander said the soonest the club would start to consider activating Donovan would be in around 10 days.

“It needs to be what it needs to be… he hasn’t played in two months and he needs to feel comfortable playing a bunch of different places and doing things with his body that in high-level competition he hasn’t done for two months,” he said.

The game in Tacoma Friday will be the second of Donovan’s rehab assignment. He was the designated hitter for the Mariners’ Arizona Complex League affiliate Wednesday night, going 0 for 3 at the plate with three strikeouts and a walk.

When Donovan does return to the majors, he’ll initially have some off days and time at designated hitter worked in to manage his workload. The hope is he’ll eventually get back into an everyday role.

“We’re going to be responsible when he comes back. He’s probably not going to play six or eight games right out of the shoot all in a row,” Hollander said. “… We’ll find a way to move him around the field and also mix in DH days, team off days and just off days for him to make sure we’re not pushing him to the point of redlining him coming off of missing two straight months.”

Hollander said having Donovan play multiple positions coming off the injury isn’t a concern.

“We’re not really worried about, at this point, how he’s gonna feel at third (base) one day versus second (base) or versus left (field),” he said. “I think it’s more about the day-to-day mileage he puts on his body and how he recovers from doing that a day and then (having) an off day and then (playing) two days and then a DH day and sort of building the volume. It’s just unique to baseball. Like, those baseball movements are very hard to recreate unless your playing in games.”

Refsnyder, who went on the IL June 27 with right knee inflammation, will need at least 7 to 10 days for his rehab assignment, per Hollander. He also noted the veteran has made some mechanical changes at the plate.

“He’s been down a little bit and he’s made some mechanical changes based on how his body, his knees were feeling,” Hollander said. “So, getting out there and being able to repeat that and feel good and not have a return to soreness I think will be something that we need to monitor.”

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