The New York Mets signed Adrian Gonzalez in January with the hope that he could at least partially regain his old form to become the starter at first base over youngster Dominic Smith.
Gonzalez is coming off not only a career-worst season in 2017 but a season in which he was one of the worst players in baseball with his -1.2 WAR. He slashed just .242/.287/.355 and was uncharacteristically a poor defender at first base with -2 DRS.
A big reason for the dropoff in production was a back ailment that limited the five-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glover to only 71 games last year. Gonzalez now has a 90-minute routine that he goes through every morning to get his back ready for games as he laid out for Tim Healey of Newsday.
Gonzalez arrives in the early morning to do a warmup, stretch, message and back exercises to help with his lower back discomfort and get him ready for the team-wide drills start for the day.
In the prior 11 season going into 2017, Gonzalez had played at least 156 games in each one of them. The back issues hit Gonzalez and he’s trying to fight through it, “Anybody in baseball I’ve seen with a back issue, I’ve seen them always do these things. And I’ve always been like, ‘Man, you do a lot of work,’ And they’re like, ‘You have to.’ Now I understand why. It’s a maintenance program. It’s something you have to do.”
The results from the soon-to-be 36-year-old have been less than promising especially at the plate where he’s slashed .208/.269/.250 with five strikeouts in 24 at-bats.
Gonzalez told reports after the game on Thursday (1 for 3, walk) that he has asked manager Mickey Callaway to leave him in games to get three or four at-bats because he’s been jumpy in his first couple.
Smith has been injured most of the spring and has only one at-bat in Grapefruit League play leaving the door wide open for Gonzalez to be the Mets starting first baseman on Opening Day.
