A familiar face was on hand to take batting practice with the Mariners on Tuesday, but it will be a while before he does anything else for them.

Franklin Gutierrez, looking in good physical shape for a guy sidelined nearly three months, took some swings at Safeco Field before his team's game against the Texas Rangers. Gutierrez will work out all week with the team as he recovers from a bout with plantar fasciitis in his heel, which came on just as he was getting over a torn pectoral muscle suffered in spring training.

"I was doing some exercises down in Arizona and felt something there," Gutierrez said. "But I didn't pay much attention to it. We play through soreness. I just kept doing it and doing it and it got worse. And I had to stop. I was ready to go and do my rehab assignment and it just happened."

Now, the Mariners will have to see how Gutierrez feels when he tries to run again Wednesday. If all goes well, he'll then have to head out to Arizona to get some at-bats in extended spring training.

After that, he would do a 20-day injury rehabilitation assignment in the minors, meaning the earliest he would be back with the Mariners would probably be in late June.

"He just needs to stay healthy," Mariners manager Eric Wedge said. "Nothing more, nothing less. It's been all about the heel here for the last two or three weeks. He's been throwing fine, he's been hitting fine, so it's just about him being able to move around without that heel giving him any problems."

Geoff Baker: 206-464-8286 or gbaker@seattletimes.com. On Twitter @gbakermariners.