David Wright Making Progress, But Doesn't Want To Rush Return
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- New York Mets captain David Wright is confident he'll return to the lineup this season.
Wright fielded grounders, took swings in the cage and ran on the grass at Citi Field on Tuesday, all big steps as the 32-year-old works his way back from spinal stenosis.
"He'll continue baseball activities through the end of the homestand," Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said. "We'll take another look at it at that time and see where he is."
Wright was sidelined in mid-April with a hamstring injury, but his rehab hit a major setback when he was diagnosed with the spinal condition. Still, Wright thinks he'll be back for the Mets' stretch run.
"Yeah, yeah. I don't think there's much of a question (about) that," Wright said, according to the team's official website. "Assuming that things continue to go smoothly, for me, the biggest thing is just time. The biggest hurdle is not so much that this is an injury, but it's a condition. So it's something that's going to have to be managed. I've done everything I can do rehab-wise, now it's just a matter of going out and testing it on the baseball field."
The third baseman wasn't sure when he'd start playing minor league games and said there's no timetable for the next step.
"I want to be here. But the other part of that is, I don't want to come here and struggle because I'm not ready," Wright said. "That doesn't do anybody any good. I don't want to do that. I don't want to come back too early and embarrass myself. I surely don't want to come back too early and hurt the team more than I'm helping the team. I'm sure they'll ask for my input about how I feel, but I want to know from them what I need to do to get ready and come back and help the team."
Wright was hitting .333 (11-for-33) with a homer and four RBIs in eight games before the injury. He hasn't played since April 14.
The Mets (52-48) have struggled to score runs in his absence. But a rotation led by young pitchers Noah Syndergaard, Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom has kept them in the conversation, and Alderson plugged some holes over the past week by making trades for veteran bats Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson, and reliever Tyler Clippard.
With a win on Tuesday night, New York pulled within one game of NL East-leading Washington.
"The toughest thing to do has been to sit back and watch this," Wright said. "I think I've watched almost every game on TV. It's easier to sit there and watch when they're playing well. But I think the toughest thing is to watch them when things weren't going so well. I'd like to think that I could help the offense out a little bit."
