Blue Jays’ Tulowitzki hopes to play this season

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — It’s likely to be more than a year between Troy Tulowitzki’s appearances in a major league game, but the injured shortstop for the Toronto Blue Jays says he’s getting there.

“I can honestly say for the first time in a while I feel like I’m headed in the right direction,” Tulowitzki said Tuesday before the Blue Jays’ game at Tampa Bay.

The 33-year-old Tulowitzki, a five-time All-Star, had surgery April 2 to remove bone spurs from both heels. He’s just getting back to the point of taking ground balls, hitting and starting to run in the outfield. He last appeared in a game on July 28, 2017, but did not elect to have the surgery until this year.

“This spring training it just got to be a little bit too much,” he said, “and at this point in my career I wanted to give myself a fair chance to come back and be the player I know I can be, and also end my career when I want to end it, not because it’s being forced.”