JUPITER, Fla. -- Marlins third baseman Connor Norby will undergo imaging on Monday in Miami to determine the severity of his left oblique injury, putting his Opening Day readiness in jeopardy.
“I've been better, I'll tell you that,” Norby told MLB.com on Sunday morning. “I've been better. It's not horrible right now. I feel a little bit better right now than I did last night, but last night was not fun.”
Norby exited Saturday night’s 6-5 Grapefruit League win over the Astros following his second-inning triple. He felt the discomfort on the swing, not on his headfirst slide into third base.
The 24-year-old Norby previously tweaked his oblique last Spring Training with the Orioles, but he noted this feels worse than that time. Though Norby showed more movement on Sunday morning compared to Saturday night, he lacked strength on that side of his body.
“I went to third, thought it was a cramp, wanted a second -- wasn't a cramp, and then the adrenaline kind of wore off, and I was just kind of hanging out and talking to the trainers in the locker room,” Norby said. “It just kept getting tighter and tighter, and then last night, not a lot of movement was going on.”
While Norby is cautiously optimistic he can still start on Opening Day, which is on Thursday afternoon against the Pirates at loanDepot park, Miami will be careful. The club doesn’t want to lose one of its everyday players for an extended period of time.
“Once he gets the imaging done and we have a clear picture of the severity or the tightness that he had, I think that will give us a better idea of trying to project out what the timeframe looks like,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “We'll just wait until tomorrow, let him get imaged and put a plan together from there.
“ ... I think that's going to be on the safe side with him, as far as, like, being being smart about this. While that [Opening Day] marker is important to many -- as it should be -- we'll just make the wisest decision on what is best for Connor in the short and long term, as we find out more.”
If Norby has to miss time, Jonah Bride and Eric Wagaman are options to man the hot corner in his absence. Marlins No. 25 prospect Graham Pauley, who was optioned to Triple-A Jacksonville on March 16, is another candidate.
Wagaman started at third base in Sunday's Grapefruit League finale against the Mets at Clover Park, turning a nifty 5-4-3 double play to end the second inning. A natural first baseman, Wagaman saw consistent playing time at third in 2024 while in the Angels' system, including 17 starts at the big league level.
Norby, acquired in the Trevor Rogers trade, went on to post a .760 OPS and belt seven homers in 36 games to close out the 2024 season. The Marlins hope he takes the next step in his first full professional season and becomes a building block.
“With how hard I've been working with my swing, and yesterday -- that swing was, for sure, my best swing of the spring,” Norby said. “That was the feel I needed. Let's take that into Tuesday [for Miami's exhibition game against the Yankees] or whatever, and then -- in probably my second-to-last at-bat of the spring -- something happens. You can only do so much.”