New York Mets third baseman, David Wright made his Grapefruit League debut on Friday during the Mets 12-7 loss to the Washington Nationals. going 2-for-3 with two singles and a run scored.
Wright spoke with reporters after the game and told reporters it felt good to get back on the field and play in a real game with his team. “Three at-bats, got a play at third, ran the bases,” Wright said. “So good day.” {NJ.com)
Now 33, Wright has been held out of games thus far to ease his back into shape as he readies himself to play his first full season through spinal stenosis. Earlier in the week he had played in two minor league games in which he went 1-for-8 with a single and a sac fly. But Wright wasted no time in his first at-bat with the big league team, swinging at the first pitch he saw for a single.
“Leadoff hitter Curtis Granderson] makes it easy on me because I get a chance to see a lot of pitches from the pitcher,” Wright said. “Getting a chance to kind of see the pitcher’s repertoire early gives me the confidence that I can swing early like that. I don’t want to be too aggressive.”
“But at the same time, your first game, even though it’s spring training, you’re a little nervous. You’ve got the butterflies, and you want to go out there and produce, as funny as it sounds. Getting that first hit, can kind of take a deep breath and then really work on some stuff the rest of the game.”
Wright got to do a little bit of everything last night, run the bases, field some grounders and test himself against fellow major league players with the season set to open just two weeks from Sunday.
“It was a good test right out of the gate. Maybe not ideal, but I’m glad that I passed. I told you it was important to run bases before I got in a game, and that’s why. I felt like I was probably moving a lot faster than I was, but I’m glad I could check that off the list.”
Manager, Terry Collins was pleased with what he saw from his captain last night. “He looked healthy. We had to get him some playing time, obviously so we’d get a better idea of how he’s going to respond to a lot of innings.”
The biggest step for Wright will be to see how his back responds today after playing the previous day. Getting his back to a level of comfort to endure the 130 games the team expects from him this season, will be his biggest challenge to fight through. “That’s the interesting thing is rebounding and seeing how it feels the next day,” Wright said.
Hopefully for the Mets, David Wright is ready to go come Opening Night, as the team heads back to Kansas City to face the team that defeated them in the 2015 World Series.
