Hardy on today's workout

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Orioles manager Buck Showalter noted that this is a big day for shortstop J.J. Hardy, who worked out at Tropicana Field this afternoon and joined Group 4 for batting practice.

Showalter is hoping that Hardy (shoulder) and infielder Ryan Flaherty (groin) will begin injury rehab assignments Monday at Double-A Bowie.

Hardy took about 15 swings in early batting practice, fielded ground balls and threw to the bases. He also worked with Steve Pearce on turning the double play. Pearce is making his first professional start and appearance at second base.

"Ground balls were fine, swings were OK," Hardy said. "I'm going to hit again in regular BP and just kind of go through normal practices, do that this whole series and see where we're at."

Hardy again is approaching the final obstacle. This time, he hopes to clear it.

"I think so," he said. "It's just a matter of how many times I need to do it. I really haven't swung for five weeks, so it almost would be like coming into spring training, practice for five days and go right into the season. There's a little bit of progression there still. Kind of building up strength. But the main thing is if it feels good, then that's a start."

Hardy doesn't know how many games he'd need in the minors before coming off the disabled list.

"It's been five weeks today since I hurt it," Hardy said. "I haven't seen live pitching in five weeks, so I don't know. I have no idea. The biggest thing for me is if I can play three, four, five games and my shoulder doesn't bother me at all, then I'm going to be pretty happy. And then I don't know what they're going to want me to do, whether more games and get my timing down and all that, or if they just want me to get back up here. I don't know if it's 100 percent up to me or not, but if I feel good, then I'm going to be pretty darn happy."

The cortisone injection in Hardy's shoulder on Saturday obviously had a positive effect.

"I think it's definitely helped," he said.

Pearce took grounders at second base the past two days in preparation for tonight's start. The Orioles want his bat in the lineup and are curious whether he can provide a defensive upgrade. He was an all-state shortstop at Lakeland High School.

"I think he's going to be all right," Hardy said. "It's hard to tell in practice versus game speed, but the thing we know about Pearce is that he's going to go out there and he's going to work at it as hard as he possibly can. And you know he's going to get as good as he possibly can at it, so I think that's where all the confidence comes from."

Matt Wieters, Jonathan Schoop and Wesley Wright came over to Tropicana Field from extended spring training in Sarasota. Wieters hit a long home run yesterday to left-center field.

Hunter Harvey, on the disabled list with a slight fracture in his left shin, threw two innings today in an extended spring game. He threw 32 pitches and struck out two batters, and his fastball was clocked at 90-95 mph.