The Mets host the Yankees on Sunday Night Baseball, with Matt Harvey pitching against CC Sabathia, and ESPN colleague Jessica Mendoza dug in to how David Wright prepares to play daily as he copes with back trouble:
One of the best parts about hitting is being able to get into the batting cage and work on your craft. If something feels off, you grab a bat and navigate your way through a process until you identify the issue and fix the problem. And even when you feel good, there is nothing sweeter than perfectly connecting bat to ball over and over.
This has been one of the biggest shifts for Wright since finding out in May that he had spinal stenosis. He has had to cut down from 120 to 150 swings a day to somewhere around 20 to 30. When he feels something is off with his swing, he told me he talks through the correction rather than working through it physically through swing repetition. That is definitely a mental shift for a player who is known as a workhorse and likes his time in the cage.
Wright's shift doesn't mean he isn't spending time at the park. He still gets there as early as six hours before game time to work on his rehab regimen; cage time is swapped for training-room time.
Another former player who can understand this situation better than anyone else? Don Mattingly.