David Wright has a very challenging 2016 season in his sights. The talk around baseball this Spring Training is if he is able to be on the field for 100 games, it’s a successful year. To combat the naysayers, Wright spent a month in California exploring techniques and developing a game plan for a daily regimen to get him ready to play with limited or no effort outside of the ordinary preparation. Wright himself stated, “So far, so good”, and with that I will have the upmost confidence in our Captain.

David also spent time talking to Don Mattingly, who is also known for his career being cut short by back pain. From 1984-89 Mattingly hit .327 with a .902 OPS and 160 home runs. From 1990-95 Mattingly hit .286 with a .750 OPS and 58 home runs as back issues worsened. If anyone knows what a bad back can do to a ballplayer, it’s Mattingly.

“He’s a worker and I was that way, too,” Mattingly said. “You want to hit and you want to hit more. You have to get to the point mentally where you can do it without all the extra hitting and that’s where he has to get to. There are only so many swings in there and if you can limit those that is what has to be done.”

David Wright stated that more than anything, Mattingly gave him the mental confidence to believe that he can be a productive player with this back injury if he manages it correctly. He also went on to sat that he will look to Terry Collins to let him know when he’s overdoing it, and will be more honest with his skipper so he can more than anything help the team, instead of hurting their chances at getting back to the Fall Classic.