Injury updates on Bruce, Kingery, Quinn, Álvarez and Wheeler

Before Saturday’s game against the Miami Marlins, Joe Girardi provided updates on a few injured players.

Scott Kingery had five at-bats in Lehigh Valley on Friday and played outfield. He ran, took ground balls and felt good. He will do the same Saturday afternoon. The 26-year-old went on the injured list on Aug. 31 with back spasms.

Jay Bruce is on the injured list for the second time this season with a left-quad strain. (Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire)

The same goes with Roman Quinn. He’s been doing some hitting and running in Lehigh Valley.

“Gotta keep that going the right way and hopefully we have no hiccups,” Girardi said. Quinn is eligible to come off the 7-day concussion IL Sunday. Girardi said Thursday that there is a possibility that both players could be activated during the Marlins series.

Jay Bruce, who re-injured his left quad, will hit in Lehigh Valley and do some light running. He’s presumably farther behind in his rehab than both Quinn and Kingery.

José Álvarez just started throwing down in Clearwater from 60 feet. He’s also doing some light work on an elliptical machine, but nothing too strenuous.

When asked if there is a greater possibility of him returning before the end of the regular season, Girardi said he “would think it would be tough.”

“He’s only throwing 60 feet and he has to be reevaluated by the doctor on Tuesday, so now you’re only looking at 11 or 12 more days. He would not have been off a mound yet, so I would think it would be pretty tough.”

Zack Wheeler will play catch before the game Saturday. Girardi hopes to get a good report from it. It doesn’t appear that he’s much closer to making his start on Monday.