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EspañolMets shortstop Francisco Lindor is close to ramping up his activity following surgery for a stress reaction in his left hamate bone.
Lindor, who had the surgery two weeks ago, recently got his stitches out and is roughly two-to-three days away from being cleared to start doing some "impact" activities, manager Carlos Mendoza said on Wednesday.
The expectation from the Mets all along has been that Lindor will be ready for Opening Day on March 26.
Speaking on Feb. 15, Lindor said he was "optimistic" he would be back by then.
While Lindor has been unable to swing a bat or field grounders since his surgery, he has been a constant presence at spring training, often on the dirt for infield drills he can't fully participate in just yet.
SNY spoke with a sports surgeon earlier this month about Lindor's injury, timeline to return (expected to be roughly six weeks from the surgery), and the potential impact the surgery might have on his power upon his return.
"The hamate is a bone of the wrist that has a small hook on it. The hook is a weak point, susceptible to fracture from either getting hit directly or from repetitive stress," said Deepak Chona, MD, a Stanford and Harvard-trained orthopedic sports surgeon and founder of SportsMedAnalytics. "In Lindor’s case, it's a stress injury, which means it’s likely been developing for some time from the repetitive motion of the bat against that portion of his hand. Surgical treatment involves cutting out the fractured hook, and carries high success rates."
Chona noted that Lindor's six-week timeline is "likely very realistic," adding that the performance outlook upon his return is "favorable, with data demonstrating no significant change in WAR or power after surgery."
As far as the power aspect?
"Most likely, this timing correlates with the recovery of grip strength and control of the bat," Chona said. "This dips after surgery (1) because of the generalized trauma/swelling to the muscles of the hand and (2) because the part of the bone (called the hook of the hamate) that they cut out to treat the fracture is involved in generating grip force as well."
One thing that could favor Lindor is that he's a switch-hitter who is having surgery on the hand that is dominant when he hits right-handed. That could be especially important for Lindor when you consider that he'll be hitting left-handed far more often, and that the majority of his home run power comes from the left side. Just seven of Lindor's 24 home runs in 2025 came from the right side of the plate, and his OPS as a lefty was nearly .200 points higher than it was as a righty.
"The area near the hamate sees greater force on a left hand when batting right-handed, so it’s possible – if not likely – that Lindor being a switch hitter may help him bounce back faster than other batters," Chona said.
"Limited data exists, but we’d anticipate a greater effect when he bats right-handed early on in the recovery. By one-to-two months post-return, most data suggests he’d be near his baseline level from both sides of the plate."
In the event Lindor is not ready for Opening Day, Ronny Mauricio and Vidal Brujan could be among the options to fill in.