San Diego Padres third baseman Chase Headley took batting practice on Wednesday for the first time since breaking his left thumb in a spring game.
He suffered the injury on March 17 trying to break up a double play.
Headley swung from both sides of the plate and said he felt no pain.
"Today's the first day on the field. I don't think we're a long way off," he said.
"I'm really happy with the way it felt and really happy with my swing for not having swung in a few weeks," Headley added. "I was really happy with the way the ball came off. But I think most importantly was not having any pain. We just checked another thing off toward being able to come back. We're really getting to the point where now it's like, 'Let's get you in a baseball mode, not just rehab mode.' That's good."