Todd Zolecki is reporting that Chase Utley visited his hand specialist today and received the ok to start hitting again. Phillies assistant GM Scott Proefrock said that this is positive news, but doesn’t change the timetable for his return yet.
“Which is very positive news from our perspective,” assistant general manager Scott Proefrock said. “From this point forward it’s going to be a matter of how he feels and how he progresses. We’re still on the same timetable we’ve been on before. It’s gone pretty much according to plan to this point.”
Now Utley is free to throw, take grounders, and hit. At this point it all comes down to how he feels. The original prognosis for his return was around September 1, which is three weeks from now.