New York Mets third-baseman, David Wright, had another rough game at the plate during Wednesday night’s 7-1 loss to the Washington Nationals.
Wright was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. The captain had sat out the previous game due to his back acting up, a constant worry due to spinal stenosis.
“The back thing is just something that I’m going to have to get used to because it’s not changing,” Wright said. “But I feel like I can play at a much higher level than I’m playing at right now.”
“I think that there are certainly some things I’m having to make adjustments with as far as preparation, as far as playing schedule, that I’m going to have to get used to. But when I go take the field I expect to play much better than I am right now.” (ESPN)
Wright’s batting average has fallen to .221 on the season. His alarming strikeout rate this season also has him with 47 strikeouts in just 113 at-bats. He has had much trouble this year catching up to fastballs, and just is not making the contact we are used to seeing from him.
“Today, in particular, I’m fouling off pitches I should be hitting. I’m swinging at some balls,” Wright said. “It just seems like those pitches that are kind of borderline out of the strike zone, I chased a few of them today. It seemed like every at-bat I had pitches to hit and just fouled them off instead of putting them in play. The biggest thing I took out of tonight is I don’t like hitting 0-1, 0-2. Those pitches I do get to hit early in the count, I’m putting good swings on them, just fouling them off. I need to find a way to put those pitches in play so I don’t have to get down 0-1, 0-2.”
The one part of Wright’s game so far this year that has kept him viable has been his OBP which stands at .362. He has already walked 25 times this season. Over his last seven games he is batting just .083 (2-for-24) with three walks. Wright is in the midst of battling through his toughest year as a professional player as he manages his spinal stenosis. A time may soon come where Terry Collins will look to move his captain down in the lineup if this continues.
