Griffey slow to find power stroke after returning from latest injury

CINCINNATI -- Just the other day, Ken Griffey Jr. got an unsolicited hitting tip from his youngest child.

"My 3-year-old said, 'Daddy, you've got to have a bigger leg kick. You'll hit it farther,"' Griffey said.

Precocious Tevin Griffey would like to put the power back into his pop's swing, the one that has launched 503 homers since 1989 but only two so far this year. Something is indeed out of whack, and papa Griffey knows there's only one thing that can fix it.

Time. Precious time.

After four years of seemingly nonstop injuries and endless rehabilitation, Griffey is trying to come back from the nastiest one of all. Griffey, 35, tore his right hamstring from the bone while sliding in the outfield last August. Doctors reattached it with three screws, an operation that few athletes have had the misfortune to experience.

Eight months later, he's still not all the way back for the Cincinnati Reds, something that's apparent with a scan of his stats or a glance at his stride. Doctors think he'll keep getting better as the at-bats add up and the scarred leg has more time to recover.

"Hopefully, but you never know because this is the first time somebody's gone through it," Griffey said. "It's different, but I'm feeling better and better."

This injury has set him back more than most during his 17-year career. He didn't get clearance to start running until a few weeks before spring training began. Griffey was held out of games initially, until he could run without a concern. When he finally got to play, he felt totally out of place.

"The first day in the outfield, I felt like I was a deer in the headlights," the 10-time Gold Glove outfielder said. "It's just starting to feel comfortable being out there everyday."

He was tentative in the field and struggled at the plate, failing to hit a homer in 48 at-bats this spring. The drought lasted until April 30, when he hit one that cleared the center-field wall in Milwaukee by inches. It was the longest season-opening power outage of his career -- 79 at-bats.

Then, two days later, he hit another -- well, sort of. Griffey's drive off the top of the wall in center at Great American Ball Park was ruled a homer, a call the umpires later regretted. A nine-game hitting streak has raised his average to .250, a sign that things are starting to come together.

It usually takes an athlete a year to fully recover from such a major operation. Although Griffey won't invoke that as an explanation for his slow start, his teammates assume that's it.

"He'll never say it, but I'd say it's not 100 percent yet," outfielder Adam Dunn said. "But he's out there everyday. The good thing is, he's swinging well of late. It's only going to be a matter of time."

Griffey has missed significant playing time in each of the last four seasons because of various injuries -- a torn left hamstring, a torn knee tendon, a strained hip and thigh, a dislocated shoulder, a torn ankle. The latest injury was the most troubling of all.

It's highly unusual for an athlete to tear the hamstring from the bone the way Griffey did. Trainer Mark Mann said it's the type of injury usually seen in water skiers, not baseball players.

"Will he ever be able to run the way he did before? No one can answer that," Mann said. "I think he's running better with each passing day and becoming more comfortable. Next year, he's going to feel a lot better and be a lot more comfortable than he is this year."

At times, it's evident that he's still feeling his way. Griffey is judicious about running full-speed, picking his spots. He's been booed occasionally by hometown fans for jogging out a hit, an indication they've forgotten that he's still recovering.

"I'm sure there's people that do understand," Dunn said. "But the people that are watching and saying things like that, they have no idea."

Griffey hasn't reacted outwardly to the boos, but it bothers him when fans suggest he should keep himself in better shape and bulk up to stave off muscle injuries.

"The biggest thing is people say, 'He doesn't work out,"' Griffey said. "You don't stay in the big leagues by not doing anything. To compare me to a left fielder or right fielder is not fair to me or any other center fielder. Left fielders and right fielders are usually a little bigger."

Griffey has never showed self-pity or considered quitting during his four years of injuries and comebacks, an attitude that astounds teammates watching him go through the latest one.

"I'll tell you right now, if I went through what he's gone through: There's no chance," Dunn said. "It takes a special person to handle all he's done and all he's gone through and keep coming back."

Two things have motivated him during the slow, arduous comebacks.

"I love baseball," he said. "And the one thing you never want to do is quit, to be a quitter."