Ex-teammates pay call on White Sox pitcher Danny Farquhar

CHICAGO – Logan Morrison and Jake Odorizzi were a little apprehensive as they headed to Rush University hospital on Friday, unsure in what condition they would find their former teammate Danny Farquhar. The White Sox reliever suffered a brain hemorrhage in the dugout two weeks ago caused by a ruptured aneurysm, a crisis that's fatal for more than a third of Americans who suffer it, and that can cause motor-skill disabilities in those who survive them.

Their worries disappeared the moment they arrived at the intensive care unit.

Farquhar "was sitting on the couch, and when I walked in, he got up and gave me a hug," Odorizzi said. "Just a normal hangout, really. We talked baseball for quite awhile."

"I was really, really blown away, impressed, surprised by how well he's doing," Morrison said of the 31-year-old righthander, who was a teammate in both Seattle and Tampa Bay. "Walking around, talking, doing great. … He's already talking about, 'I can't believe they put me on the 60-day [disabled list].' "

The two-hour visit was both heartening and sobering for the pair of Twins, knowing that Farquhar had undergone brain surgery to relieve swelling after collapsing during a game with Houston on April 21. "There were a couple of days after the surgery [where he] wasn't able to open his eyes, things like that," Morrison said. "When you hear his mom talk about how she thought she lost her son, it's tough."

But Farquhar buoyed his former Rays teammates, and vice versa, and it didn't take long for the conversation to get back to his favorite subject: pitching.

"It was the normal Farquhar, just with a scar on his head. You take the scar away, he's the same guy he's always been. Pretty miraculous turnaround, considering it's been two weeks," Odorizzi said. "He watched part of [Thursday's Twins-Sox game]. He was talking about my outing. … We talk baseball nonstop anyway, so I think it was nice for him to be able to kind of let it out for an hour and a half."

"He seemed pretty optimistic. … Once everything heals from a cosmetic standpoint and he goes through his therapy, I don't see any reason why he won't be back on the mound," Odorizzi said. "Just knowing him and who he is, we'll see him pitch again."

Byron Buxton ran about 80 yards in a straight line across the outfield Friday, then turned around and walked back to the foul line. He repeated the light workout a half-dozen times, and then did a handful of short runs and quick changes of direction. He also took a session of batting practice, the first time he's done that on the field in three weeks.

Overall, it was big progress for a center fielder sidelined by migraines and a fractured big toe since mid-April, Twins manager Paul Molitor said.

"It was good to see him hit. His BP went really well. The straight-ahead running, I think is getting close," Molitor said.

Cutting "was a little bit challenging," Buxton said, "but nothing I can't tolerate." Though progress from the toe injury he suffered on April 22 is slow, he said, he believes he can return "in the next few days."