MESA, Ariz. -- Sonny Gray underwent a follow-up MRI that came back clean on his strained lat muscle, and the A's right-hander will resume throwing Tuesday afternoon.
Gray isn't projecting when he can return to the mound. Until then, it's still safe to assume he will miss a large chunk of April at least. But he's two weeks removed from suffering the injury, and he and the A's have to be encouraged that he's been cleared to play catch a week earlier than originally planned.
"It's been tough the last two weeks," Gray said. "At the same time, it's a minor issue that we really didn't want to go down the road where it's a reoccurring thing. ... I'm excited to get out there and throw a baseball."
Gray flew to Chicago to be examined by specialist Dr. Anthony Romeo and flew back to Arizona on Monday night.
Manager Bob Melvin said it was good to know Gray is progressing well, but like the pitcher, Melvin wasn't forecasting whether Gray could return sooner than expected.
"It's all going to depend on how he feels and when we get him on the mound, and we're not sure about that yet," Melvin said.
