Jose Reyes looked about as good yesterday as a rehabbing baseball player can look in mid-December.
Making his first public appearance since right hamstring tendon surgery in mid-October, the Mets’ All-Star shortstop walked without a limp and expressed total confidence he will be 100 percent by the start of spring training.
“There’s no pain,” Reyes said. “My legs feel a little weak. We’re working on that, to get my power back, but that’s normal. The recovery is coming very good.”
Reyes, who is working out at a treatment facility on Long Island as well as his home in the Dominican Republic, is mainly doing straight-ahead sprints and not angled, baseball-type running.
The angled running will come in January, Reyes said, and he plans to start hitting as soon as he gets back to the Dominican on Monday.
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Reyes, 26, reiterated that he felt no pressure from the Mets to rush back after initially injuring his leg in mid-May. Reyes said he blamed himself for an overly aggressive rehab that resulted in an additional torn hamstring muscle in September that didn’t require surgery.
“I tried to come back too soon because I love this game,” Reyes said.
“With the way the team was playing, I feel like I have to be on the field. But that didn’t work too good for me.”
Reyes, who plans to report early to spring training, all but guaranteed he can return to the All-Star form that saw him average 158 games from 2005-2008.
“There’s no doubt I’m supposed to be the same Jose Reyes,” he said. “The doctor says I should be 100 percent and I should recover my speed. I don’t know if I’ll recover right away, but I’m working for that. There’s no doubt in my mind that if I’m healthy, I’ll be able to do the stuff that I do before.”