Lindor Returns to Action, Optimistic About Opening Day

To the surprise of no one, Francisco Lindor is on pace to be ready to play on Opening Day. On February 11, the shortstop underwent surgery to repair a stress fracture in his left hamate bone. 32 days later, Lindor was back on the field in a spring training game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

He went 1-for-3, including a hard-hit (104.5 mph exit velocity) single in his final at-bat of the day. Positive results are great, but the most important thing for him is to come out of these games feeling healthy. “It’s just how normal he looked today. No hesitation. Watching him go through his pregame work the last few days, watching him on the back fields, he looked like Francisco Lindor,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said postgame.

Francisco Lindor gets his first hit of spring in his first game.

Mets are teeing off on Toronto pitching with eight runs across in only three innings.#LGM pic.twitter.com/Dg4iltqMYh

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With 10 days to go until Opening Day against the Pittsburgh Pirates, there is real optimism that Lindor could be in the lineup. For a lot of players, recovering from an injury, especially this one, can take quite a bit of time: not for Lindor. In recent years, he has played through pain or returned from an injury quicker than expected. One of the main reasons he is so beloved by the fanbase. It seems like another example of the latter is on the cards. “I have checked every single box,” Lindor said Sunday.

It will be interesting to see how many at-bats he gets over the next week and a half. Easing him into things as he prepares for a 162-game season certainly needs to be a part of the discussion. That being said, the other names to watch out for at shortstop are Ronny Mauricio and Vidal Bruján.

Mauricio has had a good spring, slashing .286/.375/.500 with a home run and three runs batted in across 32 plate appearances. Bruján is another solid option up the middle, hitting .273 with a .701 OPS across 28 plate appearances this spring. If Lindor was behind schedule, either of them would be in line to start the season at shortstop. There is a strong argument Mauricio could benefit from every day at-bats in Triple-A Syracuse. That makes it very possible that Bruján could be Lindor’s backup to start 2026.

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