Mets captain takes first step in coming back, and felt good

The Mets Captain played in a game last night. It was even for the Mets! Just the St. Lucie Mets and not the New York Mets, but still, a step has been made…

No, David Wright did not see any action on the field as he was DH. But, he was in a lineup, batted third, and even reached base on an error. This is much more Wright action than we’ve seen in a while, in fact since May 27th of last season.

In his first rehab game, Wright reached base on an error in his first at-bat. He also struck out twice, and popped out to first in the eighth inning. So no, not the greatest in terms of productivity… but it was his first game back in over a year. No one should be criticizing too hard. Also important to note that he lasted in the game the entire time and didn’t need to be taken out due to stiffness of any sort, tiredness, cramping, etc. That in itself is a great sign.

Wright even acknowledged his performance after the game, saying that he had “a couple of good at-bats and a couple of poor at-bats, and that’s to be expected.”

What wasn’t expected by anyone is that we’d see Wright’s name in a lineup of any form. And that happened. And everyone should be excited. I understand if you’re not hopeful, but the fact that he was out there yesterday, was exciting. End of story.

If you didn’t already watch Wright’s post-game comments, you really should do so here:

For those of you who don’t want to watch a two minute video, highlights include that Wright said he’s looking for “baby steps” for his health (understandable), acknowledges that every day “is going to be a new challenge,” and that “it’s going to be somewhat of a slow process” since, you know, he hasn’t played in over a year.

“I don’t want to come back for the sake of coming back,” was also one of his remarks, which I think is huge. We all know Wright loves the game of baseball, and wants to be back on the field, but at the same time, he doesn’t want to be back unless he can contribute and help his team.

Next: Mets hitting the pause button? Seems like a rewind button

There are three years remaining in Wright’s contract, and I truly hope to see him back on the field for this. Is it a long-shot? Maybe. And it’s hard to be hopeful after his past couple of seasons, I get it. But the excitement the majority of the fanbase had yesterday upon hearing that Wright would play in rehab game says it all.