CINCINNATI -- Ken Griffey Jr. is making slow progress from his torn hamstring, and there are no plans for him to have surgery.

	Griffey

The outfielder has seen a specialist who recommended against surgery on the hamstring, Dr. Timothy Kremchek, the Cincinnati Reds' team doctor, said Thursday.

"Could he miss the season? That's a possibility, but at this point it doesn't look like it," Kremchek said.

Griffey is getting daily therapy but there is no timetable for his return, Kremchek said.

"He has improved. He is running, he's stronger and he's a lot better," Kremchek said. "When will he get to the point where he can play? We still don't know, but he's getting better."

Griffey tore his left hamstring during a spring training game March 26 and hasn't started at all in the regular season. He went 0-for-12 as a pinch-hitter before aggravating the injury and going on the disabled list April 29.

The coordinator of the University of North Carolina sports medicine program introduced the possibility that Griffey's injury might be season ending. Griffey was examined at the university May 7.

"Whether it's a season-ending injury, I truly don't know," program coordinator Bill Prentice told the Charlotte Observer. "It depends on how he responds to the therapy we recommended for him."

Griffey was examined by Dr. Bill Garrett, chairman of the UNC Hospitals' orthopedic department and considered one of the nation's top soft-tissue orthopedic specialists. Garrett referred Griffey to Prentice, who also is North Carolina's athletic trainer.

"He's frustrated by this," Prentice said. "Hamstings are a real problem, especially with somebody as strong as he is. He definitely has some imbalances from one leg to the other. Hopefully some of the things we recommended will help.

"We want to reassess him somewhere around the first of June, to see if the muscles have responded to the therapy. If not, surgery is a possibility, but hamstrings typically don't have a great history for surgery and therefore aren't done very often."

Prentice said Garrett had done several hamstring reconstructions with good success.

"Now it's up to Griffey, and how hard he works," Prentice said.

Griffey resumed taking batting practice last Sunday and is able to run lightly, which are indications of improvement. Griffey will have a strength test on the leg next week to see how far the hamstring has healed and give the Reds a better idea of how much longer he could be out.

His return is at least several weeks away.

Griffey tore the top part of the same hamstring near the end of last season, and the Reds don't want him to play again before the muscle is healed.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.