David Wright of the New York Mets plays catch and takes grounders at Citi Field as he continues his long attempt at a comeback.
SNY and the Mets showed us a glimpse of David Wright having a simple catch and taking grounders at Citi Field on Friday, as he again tries to make it back onto the field.
? #DavidWright taking grounders. ? pic.twitter.com/WMyP6imMRu
— New York Mets (@Mets) June 8, 2018
While a catch may seem minor, it’s far from it. After enduring many a trial and tribulation on the comeback trail, to see Wright with a glove in hand is a sight to behold for Met fans. Whether he makes it back onto the field, however, remains to be seen.
David Wright having a catch at Citi Field pic.twitter.com/ydgcAPHIs7
— SportsNet New York (@SNYtv) June 8, 2018
Wright, 35, seems bound and determined to make it back onto the field despite suffering from spinal stenosis, a chronic back condition, and undergoing three surgeries over the past two years.
This is merely the first step of many. Wright has had to abort multiple comeback attempts. He last played in a regular season game on May 27, 2016.
As Wright told Mike Puma of The New York Post:
“It’s a day-by-day thing,” Wright said. “I have been down this road enough to know that you never really know what tomorrow brings, so it was nice to get out there today. It was nice to throw for a little bit, and I think every day we’re going to try to ramp it up more and more and see how my shoulder and back respond.
Wright has had a stellar career derailed by injuries. After first rehabbing his back in 2015 Wright made a triumphant return in August with a home run in his first at-bat back from the disabled list and was a key cog in the Mets World Series run hitting .289 with 5 HR and a .814 OPS. He opened the 2016 season as the Mets third baseman and had a .788 OPS before a herniated disk in his neck finally forced him to shut it down.
He missed the rest of 2016 recovering from neck surgery and again was forced to onto the shelf last spring with a right shoulder impingement. Last September he had a torn rotator cuff in that shoulder corrected and a procedure to alleviate the pressure in his lower back.
A seven-time All-Star, Wright was once among baseball’s elite third-baseman. He has two Gold Gloves and two Silver Sluggers. A career .296/.376/.491 hitter, Wright is the Mets all-time RBI leader and is second on the Mets all-time list in games played and home runs.
While this is just a small step, baseball’s last remaining team captain is cautiously optimistic. Mets general manager Sandy Alderson considered Wright weeks away from “baseball activities” but Wright considers himself already on the proverbial clock.
“It’s Day 1,” said Wright to Puma “I guess we kind of have gone up a phase, but it’s Day 1 of baseball stuff, and hopefully more days to come where things continue to go well.”
