Josh Hamilton Injury Update: Rangers Activate Star OF on Monday vs. Indians

The Texas Rangers placed outfielder Josh Hamilton on the active roster Monday, as Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram first reported. Hamilton joined his teammates in Cleveland on Sunday night as they prepared for a three-game series with the Indians. He went 0-for-3 with a walk, two strikeouts and one run scored in Texas' 10-8 win against Cleveland.

Wilson provided a comment from Rangers general manager Jon Daniels on Saturday:

Prior to Monday, Hamilton had yet to appear in an MLB game in 2015 while recovering from shoulder surgery and dealing with his acrimonious exit from the Los Angeles Angels.

He played 12 games for Texas' Double-A and Triple-A affiliates. ESPN Stats & Info posted his notable numbers from his minor league stint:

Last Thursday, Rangers manager Jeff Banister gave an interview with KRLD-FM 105.3 in Dallas (via the Dallas Morning News) about the 34-year-old's potential return to the majors. Banister said the big thing regarding Hamilton was being able to play nine innings on a nightly basis:

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The timetable [for his return] is about the same, really. From everything from all of the evaluations that I get I'm getting that he feels good, feels better. The timing is really close, the at bats have been good, the attitude has been exceptional down there with the interaction with the fans. Really, the back-to-back nine inning games are what we need him to pull through and to come out on the other side healthy, in shape and ready to go.

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Given everything that has happened, expectations for Hamilton this year will be tempered. There's a big question as to how he'll perform after the shoulder surgery, not to mention he looked little like the slugger who captured the 2010 Most Valuable Player Award before the shoulder injury.

Texas will hope that Hamilton can at least provide something positive as it tries to get back to .500. As of Saturday night, the Rangers had a 12.6 percent chance to make the playoffs, according to Baseball Prospectus, so they've already dug themselves into a hole to start the 2015 campaign.

Hamilton can't single-handedly turn the season around, but he could provide a spark for an offense that ranks 10th in MLB in home runs (43) and is tied for 17th in slugging percentage (.388).