PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — As soon as Dominic Smith connected on a line-drive single to right field in the fifth inning, David Wright took off from first base. He saw the ball land in front of right fielder Marcus Knecht and rounded second, gliding gracefully across the infield dirt with long, galloping strides. He reached third base standing up and later scored on a groundout.
It was part of a successful rehab debut on Monday for Wright, who participated in live action for the first time since April 15, starting at designated hitter and batting third for the Class-A Advanced St. Lucie. In four plate appearances over seven innings, he went 1-for-3 with a single and a walk.
More importantly, Wright didn’t look like someone who just months ago was so crippled by lumbar spinal stenosis — a serious back condition — that he could barely stand and walk. Now, he can let his baseball instincts take over and sprint first-to-third with no pain.
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“I reacted. I didn’t hesitate. I didn’t think about my back,'” Wright said. “And that’s exactly what I want to do.”
Wright said he felt “nervous” and had some “butterflies” before his first at-bat in the bottom of the first inning, and it was noticeable. He jumped at the second pitch he saw and flew out to center field.
Wright seemed to settle in for his second at-bat in the third. He took three balls and fouled a couple of pitches back to the screen before flaring a 3-2 offering to left-center field for a single.
“It’s fun to get hits, no matter what level,” Wright said with a smile.
Wright returned to the plate two innings later to draw a walk — again working the count full — before taking two bags on Smith’s single and scoring on a fielder’s choice. His final at-bat came in the seventh inning. He went down 0-2 and popped weakly out to second on the fourth pitch.
In 2011, when Wright landed on the disabled list for two months because of a stress fracture in his back, he needed 27 plate appearances in St. Lucie before returning to the majors. This time around, it’s going to depend largely on how comfortable he feels at that plate, though he said that amount is a “fair assessment.”
Wright also doesn’t “foresee” playing games anywhere outside of St. Lucie.
“It’s two-fold,” Wright said. “Obviously I want to get up there as quickly as possible, but I don’t want to get up there and struggle and be a burden in the lineup.”
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After he’d left the game, Wright stood at his locker, his lower torso wrapped in ace bandages.
As he answered questions about his important night, he couldn’t help but glance periodically at a TV turned to the Mets game against the Rockies.
Daniel Murphy had just put the Mets ahead with a two-run single.
“It just fires you up for baseball,” Wright said, nodding toward the screen. “There’s still some steps for me to go, but it gets me pumped up to try to help those guys out.”
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