Ryan Braun Cleared to Swing

In a late Tuesday post, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel confirmed that Ryan Braun had a good follow-up visit with Dr. Vernon Williams on Monday, October 6.

Here is the link to Haudricourt’s original post: http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/278468981.html

Here are the pertinent points:

• Ryan Braun had his follow-up visit with Vernon Williams, the doctor who performed a cryotherapy procedure on Braun’s injured thumb.
• “He was given the go-ahead to swing but I don’t think he is scheduled to hit until later in the week,” according to Brewers assistant general manager Gord Ash.
• When Braun does swing a bat again, he hopes the pain will have lessened a significant amount.

Haudricourt’s post goes on to provide additional detail about the procedure itself as well as the goal of what Braun and everyone involved are hoping will be the results.

This is a major step on the road to what Braun himself hoped to be at least an 80%-to-90% recovery. His activity will, of course, be closely monitored and detailed as he works to return to his pre-injury levels of production.

With all of the other storylines that will fire up in earnest following the completion of the World Series, not to mention the pending decision regarding the team’s field manager Ron Roenicke within the next few days, this procedure and resultant impact on Ryan Braun may carry with it the most weight of them all.