Carlos Correa did not seem worried that the plantar fasciitis in his right foot that has kept him out since right before the all-star break would cost him the rest of the season.

But he also didn’t sound like a player who is expecting to return to the field imminently.

“I think at some point with the work we’ve been doing lately, I will get back in there,” the star shortstop said. “It’s just a matter of when.”

Correa sounded pleased with how his sprinting has gone — he ran at about 80 percent on Friday, which he said was the first time he had been able to run that fast — but there are still hurdles to clear. He needs to, for example, run with cleats on.

The shortstop suffered a setback a couple of weeks ago when he tried running with cleats, forcing him to take a couple of days off, but things have been feeling better of late.

“Every day or two or three, he’s adding to what he is doing,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “When he’s capable of doing all baseball activity at game speed, he’ll be back. Is he close to doing all those things? I think so. But he’s not there at this moment, so we just keep trying to get him better each day.”

Correa played through plantar fasciitis in his other foot for most of last season but said he is being more careful with this being the right foot because of his history — a previous ankle injury on that side of the body caused multiple teams to balk at his physical and rescind contract offers a couple of years ago.

Right now, he’s running two or three days in a row and then taking a day off before sprinting again. He’s hitting and throwing every day, but he said it’s about being able to sustain and tolerate sprinting for more than 30 yards.

“It’s trending in the right direction, and hopefully it keeps going that way so I can be out there with the boys,” Correa said.

Twins designate Okert

Baldelli described the Friday night conversation he had with left-hander Steven Okert letting the reliever know that the club was designating him for assignment with the word “tough” three separate times and “hard” once.

“He has a lot of fans here,” Baldelli said. “People that really care about him. He’s a great teammate. He’s a great member of the organization. Represented the club very, very well. Having to talk to him, have a very difficult conversation with him like that, it was hard.”

But Okert, acquired in an offseason trade for Nick Gordon, had a 5.09 earned-run average — he had a particularly rough outing earlier in the week in which he gave up four runs and recorded just one out  — and the Twins decided it was time to move on.

The move leaves the Twins with just one lefty, Caleb Thielbar, in the bullpen for the time being with Kody Funderburk is currently on the injured list. Scott Blewett had his contract selected and was added to the roster in Okert’s place.

“I would say we’re at the point in the season where I think sometimes you end up being forced to make decisions that you don’t have to make earlier in the year,” Baldelli said. “There are just fewer games to play. You’re not trying to hold onto as many good players as you can. You really have to lock in and do whatever you feel like you need to do toward the end.”

Briefly

The Twins will send rookie Zebby Matthews to the mound on Sunday for the series finale against St. Louis. Erick Fedde will take the ball for the Cardinals. … Baldelli said on Friday that both Alex Kirilloff and Brooks Lee are scheduled to play in a rehab game for the Triple-A Saints on Sunday.

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