Jeff McNeil: 'Still plenty of time to get ready' for Mets Opening Day
Jeff McNeil admitted his spring training “got a little bit delayed” as he dealt with a lingering bicep injury, but the Mets second baseman said before his spring debut there is “still plenty of time to get ready” for the start of the regular season.
After making his first Grapefruit League start Tuesday night against the St. Louis Cardinals, McNeil has six games left to play before the club breaks camp and heads north for Citi Field and Opening Day against the Milwaukee Brewers on March 28.
McNeil, who just missed a grand slam while going hitless in two at-bats with a walk, said he felt fine in his debut.
“Swing felt good, bicep felt good, so no problems,” he said after the game, adding that he had not been feeling sore after swinging recently.
“Business as usual,” he said after the game. “Took a little getting used to the pitch clock again, that first at-bat I was a little tired just getting into the box every single time so that was tough… Felt good at the field and felt good at the plate.”
The 31-year-old got his first action of the spring in a minor league game over the weekend and said, despite the time out, has been preparing as normal.
“Yeah I mean I can do everything but it's just building up my swing,” he said before the game. “Felt good in the minor league game the other day, saw the ball well. It’s different [in a game], but we'll see.”
McNeil said it was “tough” dealing with the time out and waiting for his opportunity, but the big goal is within reach.
“I just want to make sure I was ready for Opening Day. It didn't really matter how long it took, just wanted to make sure, you know, March 28 is the big one, so make sure I'm in for that,” McNeil said. “Still a week here to get ready, get prepared.”
The next step for McNeil will be getting “used to seeing big league pitching again and seeing what that looks like and getting used to some pretty nasty pitches.”
The hope for the Mets’ second baseman is that taking few at-bats this spring won’t have much of an impact on his production. He said he doesn’t see much of a difference in missing out on 20 or so spring training at-bats.
“Sometimes the fewer at-bats could be beneficial as well, you don’t get those bad thoughts, bad habits. You just kinda let your natural ability take over and roll into the season,” McNeil said.
“I’ve always succeeded well early,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders, “and with live batting practice, stuff like that,” pausing for another shrug. “So, we’ll see what happens.”
McNeil added he will be off on Wednesday and the plan is to take the remainder of the spring day by day, “but kinda gotta get in as many as possible.”
“Make sure I do get those at-bats and seeing the big league pitchers, as well, it’s different going to the other side [minor league camp], different environment,” he added. “So getting into the big league games will be key.”
