Derek Jeter has yet to swing a bat, field a ball or run on dry land since suffering a broken ankle in the 12th inning of Game 1 of the AL Championship Series last October.
Still, the New York Yankees insist their 38-year-old captain will be ready to go when the Yankees open their regular season at home on April 1 against the Boston Red Sox.
"It's all in the doctors' hands right now," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. "But he'll be ready on Opening Day."
According to Cashman, Jeter's fractured left ankle, which was surgically repaired on Oct. 20, is out of the walking boot, and he is able to wear regular shoes. Cashman said Jeter has been walking and running on an underwater treadmill, and he was recently seen riding a bicycle near his home on Davis Islands, Fla. During his recovery period, Jeter had ridden a specially made, one-legged bicycle at the Yankees' training camp in Tampa.
But Jeter has yet to be cleared for any baseball activities and is not likely to be before mid-to-late January.
"He's doing very well," said Casey Close, Jeter's agent. "He has progressed as the doctors had hoped."
According to Close, Jeter normally does not begin his preparations for the season until late January anyway.
"His timetable would have been relatively the same as it is now," Close said.
After suffering through a subpar 2010 season and a 2011 season in which he did not get hot until returning from a calf injury in July, Jeter had a strong bounce-back year in 2012, batting .316 and leading all of baseball in hits (216), at-bats (683) and plate appearances (740). Jeter will turn 39 years old on June 26.