NEW YORK (AP) – David Wright walked stiffly from the clubhouse to the corridor outside the Mets batting cage, stood in front of a wall, a large white bandage covering the skin just below his Adam’s apple.
“I plan on coming back and being the player that I feel like I’m capable of being,” he said. “When this heals, it should be as good as new.”
New York’s captain had surgery June 16 to repair a herniated disk in his neck, rejoined the team Thursday and spoke to media Friday for the first time since Dr. Robert Watkins operated in Marina del Rey, California. Wright said it was not a matter of whether to have surgery but what type.
“The sense in urgency for this in the doctor’s voice was much greater than the sense of urgency when I talked to him about my back last year,” Wright said. “I had a significant disk rupture. … They were afraid it could bruise or it could cause permanent damage.”
Wright kept his head centered, shoulders back, a bit like Lurch in “The Addams Family.” He is scheduled for X-rays six weeks after the operation and will not be allowed to start rehabilitation until three months following the surgery. That timetable makes a 2016 return unlikely.