New York Mets: David Wright Suffers Setback in Throwing Program
By Nick Ziegler
Recent New York Mets news isn’t good for the team, as third baseman David Wright has been shut down from his throwing program.
It has been a difficult past few seasons for New York Mets third baseman David Wright. After being diagnosed with spinal stenosis, Wright underwent neck surgery last season.
As the captain of the Mets, it has been hard to watch the quick decline of Wright. He has worked extremely hard in his rehab to be ready for the start of this season, but he has suffered a setback that might prevent him from playing on Opening Day.
In spring training, Wright has been doing throwing programs to build his arm strength back up. Unfortunately, he is going to have to stop throwing for a few weeks.
"“He’s not going to be throwing for a couple of weeks,” Alderson said to Abbey Mastracco of NJ.com. “Probably not throwing with any real zip for a period after that.”“I think what’s happening here is that the muscles around the shoulder have not sort of re-engaged since the surgery, and that’s taking more time than anticipated,” Alderson said to Mastracco. “I’m not a doctor, but the doctors feel it’s in some ways related to the neck surgery.”"
This is certainly bad news for the Mets, but it is news that they had to be prepared for. Luckily, the Mets did a much better job this offseason having a reliable backup for Wright. Keeping Jose Reyes not only gave the Mets the leadoff hitter that they have desperately needed, but it also gave them some insurance at third base.
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With Wright unlikely to be ready for Opening Day, expect to see Reyes starting at third base. It will be interesting to see what happens with Wright’s throwing ability in the next few weeks. Without a designated hitter in the National League, Wright has to be able to throw. Hopefully, this will be just a minor setback for Wright, and he will be back and throwing soon.