New York Mets star closer Edwin Díaz told a conference call in San Juan that he is ready for a full comeback after missing last season with a patellar tendon in his right knee he hurt while celebrating a win by Puerto Rico over the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic last March, according to elvocero.com.
“I am 100% ready,” he said in Spanish, according to the Spanish-language website. “I threw the last bullpen in Puerto Rico. It really was incredible for me. The breaking pitches are there. I’m really 100% ready to start spring training.”
Díaz was on a conference call after finishing a training session at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan. He is expected to be in Port St. Lucie before the weekend.
“The plan is to take spring training to do my rehabilitation. I don’t have to wait for the season to start and go league by league until I reach the Major Leagues. When the opening day arrives, I will be with the team from the first day,” Díaz said.
Díaz, 29, added that he will have no restrictions during the team’s spring camps. He will hope to regain the form that saw him strike out 118 batters in 62 innings while collecting 32 saves in 2002 when he finished ninth in Cy Young voting.
“There are things I haven’t done because they say we have enough time. Here I have kept running, doing exercises that have been sent to me, (working) on agility. Everything is perfect and the times I have gone to New York, all the exercises I have done jumping, moving from side to side, it has been an incredible recovery. We didn’t have any setbacks, and I’m 100% ready,” Díaz said.
