Happy, healthy Iglesias easing into spring training

LAKELAND, Fla. -- When Jose Iglesias arrived in camp Saturday, he stood out in his bright orange shoes -- just the way he wanted it.

"I want to make sure everybody knows I'm here," Iglesias said. "I've been gone too long."

Last spring, Iglesias started experiencing some familiar pain that was originally thought to be shin splints but was instead the far more serious bilateral tibial stress fractures.

The injury forced Iglesias to miss the entire 2014 season, the longest time he had ever been away from the game he loves.

"It took me a year but at the same time, I'm healthy and I'm positive, looking forward to 2015 and contribute to help this team get more wins," Iglesias said.

Although Iglesias has been cleared for full activity, that doesn't mean he's going to go all-out immediately.

"Obviously you came from an injury, you gotta be smart about it," Iglesias said. "I have no limitation on the field, just work smart."

Iglesias said he feels great but he has been taking it easy so far, especially when it comes to running.

"I'm about 85-90 percent still, like I said, I don't want to rush it, still maybe like two months left and we'll see how the coaching staff will handle it," Iglesias said.

Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said during the season, Iglesias would likely get a day off now and again to give his body a break.

This spring, the plan is to ease the young shortstop back into the swing of things.

"Once the games start, we don't want him on the field too much," Ausmus said. "He might DH a little bit just so he can get at-bats but avoid some of the pounding. As we get deeper in the spring, we're going to have to at some point ratchet that up to make sure he can play on a regular basis. He's going to have to monitor himself a little bit, he's got to be honest with (head athletic trainer) Kevin Rand and myself. Quite frankly, we've just got to watch him play. A lot of times you can tell by his body actions."

One thing that should help Iglesias is the fact that the Tigers are bringing in an AlterG anti-gravity treadmill for Miguel Cabrera, who is recovering from offseason foot surgery.

Iglesias used one in south Florida during his rehabilitation.

"The AlterG is a very safe machine and it is a very practical and a really good machine, especially me when I got cleared to run and everything, I was able to run 70 percent of my water weight so they actually take extra weight of you and do the same type of cardio so I think maybe Miggy will benefit, I think everybody will be, Vic (Victor Martinez), myself, I think it's going to be good," Iglesias said. "I'm really happy the team got that machine and I'm looking forward to use it."

The Tigers would be happy if Iglesias is able to stay healthy all season and provide the often spectacular defense at shortstop.

Iglesias acknowledges that he has a few mental hurdles to overcome in his return from injury, but he can't wait to get started.

"It's tough but I gotta get over it and I gotta be there and I'm healthy and I'm really happy that the fractures are done and yeah, I'm going to deal with soreness, especially after a year but like I said, I'm healthy and I'm really happy to be here and help this team for 2015," Iglesias said.