David Wright, the captain and third baseman of the New York Mets, is making another attempt at a comeback, as he has begun playing in minor league rehab games again.
Fans have not seen anywhere close to a full season from Wright since 2014 when he played 134 games. He’s battled a seemingly innumerable amount of injuries over the years.
Look at his MLB games played by season since 2011:
- 2011: 102 games
- 2012: 156 games (a full season!)
- 2013: 112 games
- 2014: 134 games
- 2015: 38 games
- 2016: 37 games
- 2017: zero games
- 2018: zero games
What happened to Wright is a shame.
He hit .289/.379/.434 (132 wRC+) in 2015 and a slightly more pedestrian .226/.350/.438 (118 wRC+) in 2016, according to Fangraphs.
Wright’s best season, among 7 All-Star nods and 2 Gold Glove Awards and Silver Slugger Awards apiece, was probably his age 24 season in 2007. He hit to a line of .325/.416/.546 (151 wRC+) with 30 home runs, 107 RBIs, 34 stolen bases, and 113 runs scored.
Wright will, unfortunately, be forever linked to the Mets teams that collapsed and gave away their large division leads in the mid/late 2000s. That is unfair, as he was very productive during those periods. His teammates let him down.
Wright played in three games in High-A in 2017 before stopping the rehab attempt, and has played two games this time around so far. He has reportedly not felt any pain after the games, which is a very good sign.
Unfortunately, it is doubtful that Wright will be back to being a starter. At best, he could be a bench player for a year or two, but his career has obviously been cut down drastically by his injuries.
Featured Image via Flickr/slgckgc