Medical mini-camp scheduled next month

The Rockies will hold a medical mini-camp at Coors Field on Jan. 13-22, something done in even years and which alternates with a larger winter development program.

Among those attending will be minor league pitchers Casey Weathers, Josh Sullivan and Parker Frazier. Weathers missed the entire 2009 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery but is on track to be ready when minor league spring training begins. So is Sullivan, who also missed all of 2009 after undergoing Tommy John surgery in March. Sullivan, 25, also underwent a nerve transplant operation in his elbow in April 2008 and had a labrum repaired in October 2005 and has pitched just 131 professional innings since being drafted out of Auburn in the fifth round in 2005.

Frazier is ahead of schedule after undergoing Tommy John surgery in September. It’s possible he’ll be able to pitch before the end of the 2010 minor league season.

Also scheduled to attend the mini-camp are third baseman Darin Holcomb, who was slowed by back problems in the Arizona Fall League, right-hander Chaz Roe, who returned to pitch last sesason after missing six weeks in May and June with a left oblique strain, and left-hander Greg Smith, limited last year to 11 starts and 49 1/3 innings by various injuries after being acquired from the A’s in the Matt Holliday deal in November 2008.

Shortstop Chris Nelson will also participate in the mini-camp, but he has been working out during this offseason at Coors Field. Nelson, who is scheduled to play at Triple-A Colorado Springs next season, suffered a broken hamate bone that ended his 2009 season May 22. Injuries have limited Nelson, the ninth overall pick in the 2004 draft, to 110 games and 420 at-bats combined in the past two years, and he needs to have a healthy, productive season to restore his prospect status in his final year before being eligible for minor league free agency.

Second baseman-outfielder Eric Young Jr. has been working out at Coors Field, so he, too, won’t have to travel to Denver just for the mini-camp. Young’s stay with Escogido in the Dominican Republic ended after five games in November when he made a spectacular catch while playing center field but hit the wall in the process and suffered an inflammed left knee.

The Rockies will also bring in reliever Taylor Buchholz, who missed all of 2009 and underwent Tommy John surgery in June. He’s expected to return about mid-season. Left-hander Jeff Francis, who lives in the Denver area and has been working out at Coors Field, will also participate in the mini-camp. He underwent shoulder surgery in February and didn’t pitch in 2009 but is not expected to be behind in spring training.

Also, the mini-camp will enable the Rockies to monitor right-hander Greg Reynolds, who didn’t pitch after starting the first game of the season for Colorado Springs. In late October, Reynolds underwent exploratory arthroscopic surgery to remove scar tissue in the area of the muscle surrounding the right scapula and to remove an inflammed bursa.