Howard will miss the team’s final five games because of a fractured right big toe. The injury occurred when Howard dropped a heavy iron on-deck bat on his foot before his final at-bat on Thursday night. An X-ray Friday night revealed the crack. Darin Ruf will start at first base in place of Howard against the Marlins on Saturday night (see story).
“Chase [Utley] had just hit the ball and I let the pipe go and it landed flush on my foot,” Howard said. “It hurt.”
With September roster expansion, there is no need to place Howard on the disabled list. He, of course, started the season on the DL, missing the team’s first 84 games as he recovered from a torn left Achilles tendon suffered in Game 5 of the 2011 NL Division series on his final swing of the season.
The fractured toe is considered minor and Howard expects a full recovery long before spring training.
Howard ends his season hitting a career-low .219 in 71 games. He had the highest strikeout percentage (33.9 percent of plate appearances ended with a strikeout) and lowest walk percentage (8.6) of his career.
On the plus side, he had 14 homers and 56 RBIs in 260 at-bats, and hit .329 with runners in scoring position.
“I know I can hit better,” Howard said. “I felt like I contributed with RBIs and home runs. Considering I didn’t have a spring training, I look at that as a positive.”
Manager Charlie Manuel would like to see Howard’s batting average improve in 2013. He doesn’t expect Howard to hit .313, as he did in his MVP season of 2006, but he’d like to see an improvement. Howard is a career .271 hitter.
“If he goes up there and stays totally focused and gets good pitches to hit, he can improve his batting average,” Manuel said. “He used to hit breaking balls, sliders, changeups. He needs to forget trying to hit home runs and try to hit .300. If he hits .300, he’ll always have over 40 home runs. I guarantee it. He’s receptive to this. He wants to be who he was.”
Manuel indicated he’d like to see Howard be a more prepared hitter, as well. That could mean watching more video of opposing pitchers.
Howard could be better in 2013 simply because he’ll be stronger and further removed from his Achilles injury. In many ways, his rehab from the injury will continue this winter as his left calf gets back to full strength. In addition to the changes to Howard's plate approach, Manuel said he’d like to see Howard get into better physical shape. Howard said he plans to let his body recover from the season for a couple of weeks and then get into his offseason program, which will include cardio work and weightlifting. He will start hitting in early January.
“This season has been a learning process,” Howard said.
And what’s the No. 1 thing that he learned?
“Don’t get hurt,” he said.
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