PEORIA, Ariz. (AP) For the first time in more than a year, it doesn't hurt when Will Middlebrooks swings.

Now in San Diego, a healthy Middlebrooks looks to revitalize a career that went from a sure thing at third base in Boston to an injury- and strikeout-filled two years in which he clashed with the Red Sox before being traded.

"It was tough," Middlebrooks said Tuesday. "It was a process of learning what I can play through and what I couldn't. My mentality is if I can go at all, I'm going to try to play. And I feel like that kind of played against me last year."