Cincinnati Reds' Mesoraco has season cut short again

“I feel it driving and reaching for things,” the 27-year-old said. “I definitely feel it.”

He paused slightly before adding, deadpan, “If I was a writer, I probably wouldn’t need it.”

Mesoraco, the Reds’ No 1 pick and the 15th overall selection in the June 2007 draft and a 2014 National League All-Star, expects to be sidelined a minimum of four months after Dr. Tim Kremchek, the franchise’s medical director, performs Tuesday’s procedure. It will almost certainly end Mesoraco’s season after 16 games in which he hit .140 with a double while driving in one run.

“They tell me it’s a minimum of four months, but it can take up to six months,” Mesoraco said. “I imagine it will be difficult for me to get back on the field before the end of the season.”

This is the second consecutive season cut short by injury for Mesoraco, who played in 23 games last year before going on the disabled with a left hip impingement that eventually led to surgery on June 29 to repair a torn labrum. He didn’t play after May 20, but tried to avoid surgery. He, his advisers and the Reds agreed not to waste time this year.

“I have a complete posterior tear of my labrum,” said Mesoraco, who had a second doctor look at his MRI. “It was going to be difficult to take swings that weren’t pain free. Everybody involved in the decision thought surgery was the way to go. Everything was very conclusive, and we were all on the same page.

“This one is more clear-cut to where I wasn’t going to be able to play. I didn’t want to go through what I went through last year.”

Manager Bryan Price finds it difficult to fathom the same player having separate, yet just as traumatic, injuries in consecutive seasons.

“I’m sure you guys all know what it feels like,” he told writers while sitting in the home dugout at Great American Ball Park. “Here’s a kid who worked so hard to come back and then has a setback not related to the previous injury. It’s frustrating.”

Mesoraco, who signed a four-year contract through the 2018 season in January 2015, was more direct.

“It sucks,” he said. “This isn’t the way I drew it up. This isn’t the way the Reds drew it up. It’s frustrating. I worked so hard in the offseason to get ready to play and then, a lot like last year, it starts barking the first week of the season.”

Somebody wondered if it at least felt good to have a plan.

“No, not really,” Mesoraco said. “It doesn’t feel good at all. This is not the way I drew things up. It’s the next step. It’s what needs to happen to get back on the field.”

Baby step: Right-handed pitcher Homer Bailey, who hasn't thrown since his second rehab start on April 26 with Double-A Pensacola, played catch briefly Friday.

“It went fine,” Price reported. “He’s not a day away from jumping back on the mound, but it’s a step in the right direction.”

Friday was two days short of the one-year anniversary of Bailey’s Tommy John surgery, which was performed last May 8. He’d been making steady progress toward a return to Cincinnati’s rotation this month until developing soreness in what he said was the back of his elbow, prompting the Reds to shut him down.

Game three: Left-hander Brandon Finnegan (1-1) is Cincinnati's scheduled starter in the third game of the four-game series against the Brewers. Finnegan is 0-1 in three starts since logging his only win April 16 in Cincinnati's 9-8 win at St. Louis. He was victimized by a blown save in his last start, a 9-6 loss to the Giants on Monday. Right-hander Jimmy Nelson (4-2) is due to start for the Brewers.