Nady Takes Batting Practice

From The Daily News:

Xavier Nady took batting practice for the first time in more than a month, testing his injured right elbow harder than he has since he went on the disabled list on April 16.
Nady took five rounds of BP, swinging between five and eight times per round. He will likely head to Tampa at the end of the home stand, where he hopes to begin playing in rehab games as a designated hitter next week.
“It felt good,” Nady said. “I was more hesitant the first couple of swings, but I was swinging the bat good. I’ll do this for a couple days, and hopefully by Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I’ll be letting it loose out there.”
Joe Girardi said Nady’s return was “getting closer,” but it’s still unclear when the outfielder will try testing his arm by throwing. Nady said the initial rehab plan was for him to begin throwing two weeks after he started hitting, so it’s likely that he will initially return as a hitter and not a fielder.

If Nady cannot play the field right away, he will probably be used as a bench bat and to spell Hideki Matsui at DH against tough lefties. With Nick Swisher struggling, Nady would be a welcome addition to the bench, allowing the Yankees to play matchups in the late innings as well as motivating Swish to play for his job. I assume that he would replace Angel Berroa on the roster, and the Yankees would return to the 5 outfielder+Matsui configuration that they started the season with.

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