It's been a little more than three months since Chris Marrero suffered a season-ending leg injury while sliding into home plate against Winston-Salem. Washington's top pick in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft broke his right fibula and tore ligaments in his ankle that day in the Carolina League and it seemed, at the time, that he wouldn't be back on the field until the spring.

But Marrero is back in action this week, limited as that action may be at the moment, as the Nationals and their top prospects take part in the Florida instructional league. Marrero is taking grounders at first and swinging the bat down in Melbourne -- his first baseball-related activity since the injury -- and the hope is that by early October he'll be available to see some game action.

"He's doing well and progressing at a pretty good pace," said Washington's farm director Bobby Williams. "He's not game-ready yet but he should be during the middle part of the instructional league. He's just getting his legs under him now, getting used to being on his feet again.

"His ankle isn't 100 percent yet, so he's still not able to play in games. But he continues to progress and take ground balls and swing in the cage. Each day he gets a little better and a little stronger, and he feels more comfortable on it and is able to trust it. He's tentative at times, but he has to trust it and know he can do the things he did before."

Marrero had gotten off to a slow start with Potomac of the Class A Carolina League this season, hitting close to the Mendoza Line for much of April and early May. But his bat began to heat up as Memorial Day approached and over his final 14 games -- he suffered the injury on June 18 -- he hit .352. Marrero finished his short season hitting .250 with 11 homers and 38 RBIs.

While the injury itself was bad enough, missing the second half of the season also hurt him in terms of his development at first base. This was to be Marrero's first season on the right side of the infield -- he began the transition there during the 2007 instructional-league season -- and Williams said the prospect was making significant progress at the position at the time of the injury. Marrero had eight errors through 643 total chances at first after playing the outfield in his first two seasons as a pro. He had been a third baseman in high school before he was selected 15th overall by the Nats.

Williams said that Marrero is moving side-to-side "pretty well" when on the field. There is improvement every day as Marrero gets stronger and the club is hopeful that within a week or two he'll get to test his ankle in a game.

"Missing the game experience, that's what hurt a little bit," Williams said. "But he's going to be able to get a lot of work in instructional league in all the aspects, as much as his ankle will tolerate. As he continues to get stronger, he'll be able to do more work. We spent a lot of time working on his defense at first and we were definitely disappointed by the injury.

"You never want to see your players miss a significant part of the season the way Chris did. Certainly it's a little setback, but he's still young. The main thing is to get him healthy, get in some work at first and get him some at-bats. This way he'll be able to go into the winter knowing his ankle is good, healthy and strong."

Outfielder Justin Maxwell is also in Florida after missing most of the season with a broken right wrist. He hit .233 with seven homers and 28 RBIs for Double-A Harrisburg, but hadn't played since May 26. Williams said the club wants Maxwell to make up some at-bats and that he will play winter ball in Puerto Rico after leaving the instructional league.

Williams added that left-handed pitcher Jack McGeary, a sixth-rounder in 2007, has looked good early in camp. He struck out five and didn't walk a batter in three scoreless innings on Monday. Right-hander Cole Kimball also pitched a strong inning on Monday, touching 95 on the gun.