{"id":626015,"date":"2026-03-16T05:23:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T05:23:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/626015\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T05:23:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T05:23:26","slug":"mets-francisco-lindor-feels-pretty-much-like-myself-after-first-spring-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/626015\/","title":{"rendered":"Mets’ Francisco Lindor feels ‘pretty much like myself’ after first spring action"},"content":{"rendered":"

PORT ST. LUCIE \u2014 The final piece of the Mets puzzle got on the field Sunday, discarding much of the concern that may have lingered about his potential Opening Day readiness<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Francisco Lindor played four innings at shortstop and received three plate appearances against the Blue Jays at Clover Park, giving the All-Star shortstop his first Grapefruit League action this spring.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lindor has spent the past month rehabbing from left hamate bone surgery and had just progressed to batting against live pitching in recent days.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lindor finished 1-for-3 with a single in a game that was called after five innings because of rain. The Mets won 8-1.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt pretty much like myself,\u201d Lindor said. \u201cI finished the game healthy. It was a good day for me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lindor will likely have Monday off and then resume Grapefruit League action a day later. The Mets have spring training games through next weekend, ahead of the March 26 opener against the Pirates at Citi Field.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Manager Carlos Mendoza said in the aftermath of the surgery there wasn\u2019t a firm timetable for Lindor to begin playing exhibition games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we saw he was progressing, not only defensively but offensively, with the way he was swinging the bat in the cages, transitioning to the field, getting live at-bats,\u201d Mendoza said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lindor, in his final at-bat Sunday, hit a ball to right field that carried home run distance, landing foul. It was perhaps a good first sign that Lindor\u2019s power hasn\u2019t been compromised by the surgery.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to take time for the power to be there,\u201d Lindor said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of those where I feel fine right now, I am in a good spot. I spent the whole offseason trying to hit the ball over 100 mph, even before my wrist injury. I hit two balls over 100 today. You swing and get the right pitch, and I am sure the ball is going to go where it\u2019s supposed to go.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NewMets shortstop Francisco Lindor (12) hits a single in the third inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Clover Park. Jim Rassol-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

\"FranciscoFrancisco Lindor has spent the past month rehabbing from left hamate bone surgery. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n

He was asked if there are differences in how he feels physically, dependent on which side of the plate he is swinging.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a little bit of difference, but I feel good from both sides,\u201d Lindor said. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be a test throughout the rest of spring training and when I face people \u2026 I am in a good spot.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lindor became the second starting position player to begin exhibition games this week: Luis Robert Jr. debuted in the Grapefruit League on Thursday after the Mets slow-played his spring to ensure his legs were strengthened.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

On this day, Lindor got to mesh in a game with new double-play partner Marcus Semien. Bo Bichette was at third base, with Brett Baty at first.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was cool to play ball with Marcus,\u201d Lindor said. \u201cAt one point I looked to my side and I was like, \u2018Wow, I have got a shortstop next to me\u2019 \u2026 it was a cool day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Among the tests Lindor faced was a dive, landing on his hand, on a ball that shot through the middle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was one hesitation, when I hit the ground I was like, \u2018Uh, that\u2019s different,\u2019 \u201d Lindor said. \u201cBut I got up and was OK. The training staff has said to me whenever there\u2019s a little pain, as long as it goes away, you\u2019re in a good spot, and that is what\u2019s happened. It did not make me timid. The rest of the game allowed me to continue to play at full speed and it gives you confidence that you can have that not in the back of your mind.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ST. LUCIE \u2014 The final piece of the Mets puzzle got on the field Sunday, discarding much…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":626016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,227,101,4,1690,61,2548,4203,185,151],"class_list":{"0":"post-626015","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-mets","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-francisco-lindor","10":"tag-mets","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-mets","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkmets","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-spring-training"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116237186304167866","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/626016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}