PORT ST. LUCIE — Less will be more for two Mets in particular this Grapefruit League season.
In an effort to keep David Wright and Daniel Murphy from incurring fatigue that can lead to abdominal injuries, manager Terry Collins plans to limit the number of at-bats both players receive in the first half of the exhibition season, which begins for the Mets on Friday against the Nationals at Tradition Field.
Wright has battled abdominal problems the last two years in spring training and Murphy was sidelined for almost the entire 2013 camp because of a strained rib cage muscle.
There was a time Wright, 31, might have argued the need for receiving as many exhibition at-bats as possible, but the wisdom that comes with age has told him not to push it.
“I guess it’s my fault that it has taken me this long to realize what I need to get ready for game situations,” Wright said. “But sometimes I’m a little hard-headed as far as you try to press the issue. You know better and you should try to take it a little easier, take it a little slower.”
Last year, Wright “ramped up” his routine early in camp to prepare for action with Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. But Wright returned to the Mets before Team USA’s run was finished because of a strained rib cage muscle.
Even so, the injury didn’t keep him for starting for the Mets on Opening Day.
“Spring training is too long, anyway,” Wright said. “So it’s good to kind of ease into things.
“I feel like if I go out there and do what I’m supposed to do with work-wise with [coaches] Tim Teufel or Dave Hudgens, if I do the work I want to do, then I wouldn’t be able to do that same work and play games the same day.”
Murphy also made the Opening Day lineup last season, after receiving seven at-bats in the Grapefruit League because of a strained rib cage muscle. The scarcity of at-bats didn’t keep Murphy from starting the season in solid form – he hit .290 with a .777 OPS in April.
Collins has indicated Murphy might not play the first 6-8 games of this exhibition season in an attempt to keep him rested.
“I had seven [at-bats] last spring training, so I would like to get more than that,” Murphy said. “So I don’t think it’s a problem at all, waiting, if that is what TC wants to do. We’ve talked about it, so wait a week or whatever it turns out to be. Spring training is plenty long enough.
“I honestly don’t want to be banged up like I was last year and I feel healthy, so that’s good, but I also learned that maybe I may not need 100 at-bats in spring training. It’s a comfort to know that I got seven at-bats last year, so maybe we’ll shoot for 40 or 50 this year and we should be good.”
On top of the at-bats players receive in Grapefruit League games, they also have the option of jumping into minor league exhibitions to increase at-bat totals. Murphy said “diligence” will be the key to avoiding oblique/rib cage injuries. It starts with core exercises.
“Other than that, like anything else, you don’t pay attention to it or it will start talking back to you,” Murphy said. “Like a hamstring or anything, you’ve just got to stay on top of it.”