Hope springs eternal, even in mid-summer. The New York Mets began the scrimmage portion of training camp at Citi Field on Thursday, and the two players who stole the show early on probably weren’t who you would have guessed.

Jed Lowrie, batting his way back from a laundry list of injuries since signing with the Mets last offseason, notched his first base hit of summer camp with an opposite-field double off some guy named Jacob deGrom to kick things off.

This deGrom kid had better step it up if he wants to make this ballclub.

Lowrie, 36, saw just nine plate appearances in 2019 due to a mysterious left-side ailment that began as a knee issue in Spring Training and just kept evolving as the season wore on.

After manager Luis Rojas declared Lowrie a “full go” on Sunday, the longtime MLB infielder said he was “confident that I’m going to be able to do whatever is asked of me [this season]”, despite still getting acclimated to the various leg braces he’s been wearing.

Taking deGrom the other way in the first at-bat of the season is an encouraging sign if you choose to view it that way. Still a very long road ahead.

In the bottom half of the first with right-hander Seth Lugo on the mound, another long-lost Mets star, Yoenis Cespedes, turned heads again with an absolute blast to deep left field. Instead of running the bases, Cespedes simply turned around and headed back to the dugout.

Ah, the joys of summer baseball.

Cespedes, 34, has played in just 119 games since the start of the 2017 season due to double heel decalcification surgery in 2018 and his infamous run-in with a wild boar on his ranch in Florida, causing a major ankle injury.

Though, even as his heels were giving out on him through 2017 and 2018, the Cuban star hit .282/.343/.525 with 26 homers, 23 doubles, and a 132 OPS+ over those 478 plate appearances.

If Cespedes is healthy — as evidenced by that dinger, he appears to be feeling OK — he could be a real asset to this 2020 Mets squad. The designated hitter spot looks like the ideal place to utilize La Potencia’s power quotient.

We’ll keep you posted with updates from Citi Field.