Rays RF Rocco Baldelli met with a group of media before the game on Sunday to discuss his prognosis, his career and his life with a rare severe muscle fatigue disorder.

Q: How have you learned to better handle your condition?
A: I go hard when I have to go hard. It’s something I’ve never really done before. My body responded pretty well to how I was treating it. I guess I do feel like I do have a better handle on it.

Q: Have there been any physical setbacks?
A: I haven’t had any real problems. I wasn’t playing every day (at Double A Montgomery), which is something I kind of have to do right now. I don’t think it’s really realistic to be out there every day playing, but I’m OK with that. I’m happy with whatever role I have, if or when I get back with the team.

Q: Did you pass the on-field tests the Rays had set out for you?
A: I don’t know if I passed or failed anything. I just felt good. I know I was happy. When I finished up the rehab assignment I figured I’d know, I’d have a good feeling about when (a return to the big-league roster) might happen. I have nothing but positive reviews for myself. I’m really happy with how it went.

Q: Is the limited role the Rays see for you workable?
A: I’ll do whatever I have to do. I don’t care. Physically, yeah, I did it for the entire rehab assignment so I think I can do it here. It was pretty hot where I was, too. That didn’t help the situation, to be honest with you, but I was able to get through it. It was good. It was a good experience.

Q: What is your long-term prognosis of your condition?
A: I don’t know what the long-term prognosis is. I don’t think the doctors have complete knowledge of it because I think everyone’s case is different. I think you stick with the treatments that they give you and see where it goes. There’s no real way to know what its going to mean five or 10 years from now. It’s not something I try to dwell on or think about too much anyways.

Q: Your goal is to become a full-time player again?
A: Obviously, but I don’t know if that’s completely realistic. I don’t know if it’s something you can completely recover from. It took me awhile to come to terms with that. I don’t know if that’s 100-percent the case, but I think it’s the case. Really, it was tough at first, but I think its something I’ve learned to live with and deal with and I’m OK with it.

Q: So this is more a situation where you have learned to work with the condition, not where it has relented?
A: I don’t think the treatments are reversing the problem. I just think its getting my body just a little more ammunition to work with as far as supplements and things I need.

Q: Did you have to relearn the process of staying ready to play, like lifting, running, etc.?
A: Not really. I do less of a lot of different things I used to do.

Q: Will you be able to dial down your level of intensity on the field, stop going all out all the time to save yourself a little?
A: That’s the plan. A lot of times I’ve been told to take it easy out there, get out there and get comfortable. Then I get out there, I run as hard as I can and I’ll end up doing something to myself. That’s pretty much how it’s gone for awhile now. It’s taken me awhile to learn how to dial it back and learn my new problem.

-- BRANT JAMES