On Thursday before their spring training game against the Washington Nationals, Mets’ manager Luis Rojas gave an update on Dom Smith’s sore wrist that is keeping him sidelined from game action.
“Dom didn’t swing yesterday, didn’t swing today, we intend to keep him light tomorrow, he will not play,” Rojas said. “We will reassess about the workload he’s going to do tomorrow, but we don’t want to push him into play. We rather have him on the camp day, maybe take some swings. And then maybe look at a couple days to get him back in. We’ll keep reassessing day-to-day, but that’s the plan on the short-term.”
Rojas is being patient with Smith’s injury, knowing that the important thing for him and the rest of the team is to stay healthy through spring training for Opening Day. Smith has been working on his defensive play in left field while letting his wrist heal properly.
“Definitely, everyone here, the approach of everyone is to make it out of here healthy,” Rojas said. “Obviously we want him to get in the best baseball shape we can get everyone from a competitive standpoint. But the health point is up there. That’s the approach from Dom and everyone else. But he’s doing his work defensively, which is something we prioritize as well. Especially in left field which is the new position still for him, even though he has played it for a couple years now at times. We’re still working with him hard, Tony’s [Tarasco] is going and doing extra stuff with him.”
Earlier on Thursday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that fans will be allowed to attend games up to 20 percent capacity starting on April 1. Rojas was asked about what it means to have fans back at games for the 2021 season.
“It’s really exciting,” Rojas said. “We were talking this morning about fans actually, some of the coaches and a couple of the players. I think yesterday we were talking about Washington, which I is our opener and to be able to experience the fans in the stands and the support, everything for the game, enjoying the game. It’s just exciting to think of it today. We can’t wait for those days to get here.
“I know we’re going to start on the road, but once we home and we have that twenty percent, that’s just going to be outstanding. Just to hear the support live again, that’s something that we missed very, very much. So it’s going to mean a lot to everybody.”
Rojas would go on to talk about the relationship the team and the fans have, and explained that they are the reason they work as hard as they do at spring training.
“We get ready, we come here everyday for our fans,” Rojas said. “We got a good thing going on here in camp. Everyone’s just great in this camp, from the players, coaches, front office. Everyone here just has a great environment going on in camp. We’re building here on a daily basis, how we’re getting prepared is thinking of our fans, knowing they’re going to be present this year, and the support is going to be felt different than it was last year. They’re very much in our minds. We know they want to win, at the same rate we want to win, so the connection is there. And the love is felt from our fans, the passion is felt.”
Starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard has been rehabbing this spring, expecting to make a return to the team potentially in June. Rojas heard about Syndergaard’s progress after an impressive throwing session on Thursday.
“No, we were running the fundamental when he was pitching, but I heard,” Rojas said. “I heard how he threw the ball, I heard he threw the ball really well. I heard he hit 96, not at one hundred percent. I’m mean he’s not throwing at a hundred percent, he’s basically still progressing, rehabbing. But I got my report, I will see the video. We have video of our all pitchers throwing, which is a great thing.”
“I just got a really good report,” Rojas said. “He’s in a good place, he’s such a hard worker. He’s done a fine job to get to where he is today, and he’s following the program so everything’s going accordingly right now.”