Tomorrow will be a week since JD Davis had to be taken out of the New York Mets’ game against the Philadelphia Phillies after getting hit in his hand by a Chase Anderson fastball clocked at a little over 90 mph.
Since then, Davis hasn’t been able to return and, instead, he was placed on the 10-day injured list by the Mets with a hand contusion. X-rays performed last week showed no fracture whatsoever, and the third baseman remains sidelined until further notice.
Despite the fact that he still hasn’t been able to take full swings or grip a bat without discomfort, the Mets’ slugger is confident that he will make his much anticipated return when his 10 days on the list are up. That would be April 17, since he was placed on the IL retroactively to April 7.
Davis has been lifting weights and taking ground balls while he waits to hit without discomfort. While it’s possible he returns this weekend, that is still up in the air as he has some hurdles to clear.
“I feel pretty confident,” Davis told reporters on Sunday. “Again, it’s day-to-day with the swelling. Every day it’s progressing in the right way. I’m confident in how it’s healing.”
The Mets want to make sure he is healthy
In any case, it shouldn’t more than 7-10 days until the Mets can have their third baseman back, so they need to be patient.
“I took some grounders, got a lift in, got some conditioning, doing some extra hand isolation movements and exercises and it felt great,” Davis said about what he did on the weekend. “But taking a full swing, [there] was still discomfort in there, especially the area where I got hit. Felt like there was still a pinch in there. So just a matter of time and day by day with sweeping going down.”
While he is eager to come back as soon as possible, the Mets know that the season is long and it’s for the best that they ensure Davis is fully healed.
“The whole season, it’s 162 games, so just got to take it day by day and get healthy and get back out there. That’s pretty much all I can do,” he said.
The Mets have been giving increased playing time to Luis Guillorme and Jonathan Villar during Davis’ absence.