David knows surgery last shot to make it all Wright
ABIG smile was on David Wright’s face as he stood by the bat rack in the Mets dugout Sunday, catching baseballs thrown by fans who wanted his autograph. After signing, he tossed the balls back into the stands — using his left hand.
No matter what happens in the future, the rotator cuff surgery Wright underwent on his right shoulder last week has already created a significant change for the better in him.
“I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders,’’ Wright told The Post.
In his heart of hearts, he still feels he has a shot to play again.
“At least now, I have peace of mind, and hope, that if all goes well with the surgery, this is what they thought it was and that’s corrected now,’’ he said. “I needed the games to know that I couldn’t throw. Because I could kind of grind my way and kind of fudge my way through the practicing. But once the games started, that was a whole different ballgame, something wasn’t right.
“I hope the shoulder re- sponds well and I can at least get back to the way my arm felt pre-neck surgery. I feel like that is when everything kind of started to go wrong with my shoulder because I never had any arm problems. And then kind of post-neck surgery, I don’t know if it was a combination of that, the layoff, whatever.
“I just have more peace of mind now that whatever was wrong has been surgically corrected.”
That is a big difference from the summer of 2016, when Wright underwent that neck surgery to repair a herniated disk and basically stayed in the shadows, doing his daily rehab walk out of sight, lonely walking the concourses of Citi Field many hours before his teammates would play a game.
Wright has not played in a game since May 27, 2016, a 6-5 win over the Dodgers at Citi Field. Wright went 1for-4, his last at-bat that game he struck out looking in the seventh inning against Louis Coleman. That could prove to be the captain’s final major league at-bat.
If the rotator cuff surgery does not correct his throwing pain, Wright’s career will be over. He still feels he can return and also knows that first base could be a possibility — something that saved the career of his friend, Ryan Zimmerman, with the Nationals, who are heading to the postseason yet again.
A first baseman still has to make throws, too, and Wright is well aware of that so that’s why everything rests on his shoulder recovery.
“Certainly, I am open to anything that is kind of suggested,’’ Wright said of the possibility of playing first base. “I haven’t been told that though.’’
Wright, who turns 35 in December, has to get through rehab first. That is the next challenge.
“This should take care of all the rotator cuff and labrum problems,’’ Wright said of the surgery. “I just had the hardest time being able to throw. I tried, a lot, and it just wasn’t happening. Rehab didn’t work, and that was five, six months. Once that doesn’t work you have to move on.’’
Wright must overcome his spinal stenosis as well. The cards are stacked against him, and the Mets certainly can’t count on his return in any way and need to get a third baseman for 2018 if they hope to be a better team than the one limping to the finish line this season, heading to Wrigley Field on Tuesday for a three-game series, a world away from the team they were when they swept the Cubs in the 2015 NLCS.
With another autographed ball signed and tossed back to a happy fan, Wright said, “I love to play this game. Sure, it’s going to suck to have to rehab again, but it’s almost as if my mind is at ease now. That if all goes well I can throw without pain.’’