By Chris Brown – STL Baseball Today

In a bit of a surprising move, the Cardinals activated outfielder Randal Grichuk from the 15-day disabled list prior to Sunday night’s series finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Grichuk has been sidelined since mid-August due to a muscle strain and low-grade ligament sprain in his right elbow. Despite two stints on the DL this season, the 24-year-old still leads NL rookies in triples, ranks 2nd in extra base hits, and tied for third with 15 home runs.

Manager Mike Matheny told reporters as recently as Friday, “He’s not as far along as the other guys. We’ll see how he answers the different challenges we’re giving him,” Matheny said.

The NL Rookie of the Year candidate has apparently responded well enough to those challenges for activation. After meeting with doctors on Saturday, Grichuk evidently received some good news, although GM John Mozeliak told reporters that he’ll be limited to pinch-running for the next few days. The hope is that Grichuk will be ready to pinch hit by the end of the week and play in the field shortly thereafter.

As of Saturday, Grichuk “had only hit against soft toss pitching and had not started a throwing program,” Jim Hayes of Fox Sports Midwest reports.

A combination of Jason Heyward, Tommy Pham, and now Jon Jay have handled center field in Grichuk’s absence. Jay will get the nod in center Sunday night, with Grichuk available only as a pinch runner.

Grichuk is batting .284/.333/.561 with 15 home runs and 44 RBI in 85 games for the first place Cardinals.

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