Padres' Austin Nola: Cleared to return to action
Nola (finger) has been given the green light to begin playing games at the Padres' alternate training site, Daniel Guerrero of MLB.com reports.
Nola has been gradually working his way back from the fracture to his middle finger on his left hand. He has been throwing to bases and is now able to take batting practice and play in games following an encouraging CT scan. It's unclear when he may return to the big-league squad given his long layoff, which has extended to over a month. "We'll kind of wait and see how the rhythm and timing goes," manager Jayce Tingler said, "but we're really encouraged that finally we're at the stage where he hadn't had any setbacks and the doctors feel like he can't injure it or it can't get worse." Tingler added that Nola's ability to participate in games is "going to be a matter of playing through pain."
