Injured Met star David Wright showed up at Keyspan Park on Tuesday afternoon to take some batting practice and field grounders — evidence that he’s almost ready to join his hapless teammates on the floundering big league squad.
The session was conducted before Cyclone fans were in the stands for last night’s win over the Vermont Lake Monsters, but the media was invited to watch Wright take his swings. He started off slowly, but ended up hitting four homers — all to left and left-center.
After, he chatted with The Brooklyn Paper and said it felt good to be back on a field after sustaining a concussion on Aug. 15 when he was hit in the head with a 94-mile-per-hour fastball.
“To get back on the field feels good,” he said. “I feel good, I feel fortunate, to feel this good this fast. I’m on schedule, and I can’t wait to rejoin my teammates. Physically, I feel good. I feel like I haven’t hit in awhile [and] I will probably be a little sore tomorrow from just swinging for the first time, but I feel good to go.”
That won’t happen until Sept. 1, at least, according to team doctors, Wright added.
The Met slugger had a few choice words about the Cyclones’ notorious “pitchers’ park” on the Boardwalk.
“It’s a bit tough to hit balls out of here, so this will be good in preparation for Citi Field,” he said. “It’s hard to hit a ball out in right and right center [in Keyspan].”
Cyclone third baseman Richard Lucas, who has been on fire since joining the team last week, practiced with his big-league counterpart and pronounced Wright ready.
“He looked real good,” said Lucas. “He doesn’t look like he lost anything.”
Lucas said Wright gave the youngster plenty of advice — even though Lucas hopes to one day supplant the Met all-star.
“He told me to stay down when I come up for the throw to first,” Lucas said. “I used it in [Tuesday’s] game when I had to go down the line for a ball and if I had gotten up I would have probably not gotten the guy, so that advice helped me.”
