Mets’ Lindor takes ‘slow step’ toward his return

NEW YORK — Shortstop Francisco Lindor said he is “optimistic” he will play again for the New York Mets before the regular season concludes next Sunday, stopping short of saying he is 100% confident he will return from a back injury over the club’s final six games.

Lindor has not played a full game for the Mets since Sept. 11. Two days later, he exited a win over the Philadelphia Phillies in the seventh inning with back discomfort. He took the next day off and played just one inning on Sept. 15 before being removed because the pain made bending over difficult.

He then missed the Mets’ entire seven-game homestand against the Washington Nationals and Phillies. The Mets went 6-1 and took three of four from the first-place Phillies without him, maintaining a two-game lead over the Atlanta Braves for the final National League wild card. The clubs begin a pivotal three-game series in Atlanta on Tuesday. Lindor’s status for the clash isn’t promising.

“If I play this year, I don’t think it’s going to be pain-free,” Lindor said after the Mets’ 2-1 win over the Phillies. “I’m OK with that. I just don’t want it to be a constant pain where I can’t bend over. And then I put my teammates in a position where I’m not helping them as much as I can. That’s not fair for anybody. And, for me, it’s to be in a position where if it’s going to hurt, it’s going to come and go.”

Lindor, 30, underwent tests Monday that revealed no structural damage, but neither he nor the Mets have not disclosed his diagnosis. He received a facet joint injection Thursday to accelerate the healing. He said the shot dulled — not eliminated — the pain.

He took batting practice on the field for the first time the next day. He was back out there before Sunday’s series finale for the third straight day. The session was again short and again lacked the usual intensity, but Lindor insisted he accomplished his goal of “pushing it to the limit.”

“The goal is to come in every day and work as hard as I can to reach that limit, that threshold, that the trainers want me to hit and then we go from there,” he said. “And today, I got to that threshold. It’s another day, another slow step in the right direction.”

In addition to the batting practice sessions, Lindor said he has tracked pitches in the bullpen, played catch, taken groundballs and run. He hasn’t, however, run the bases. He said he also might need to face living pitching before returning.

“For me, it’s not mandatory, ‘I need to see live pitching’ because it’s only five, six days,” Lindor said. “But we’ll see. We’ll see how it goes.”

Lindor has hit 31 home runs with 27 stolen bases in 148 games. He’s posted an .836 OPS while playing premier defense. Replacing Lindor, an NL MVP candidate who has been elite in all facets, is not realistic.

But the Mets have received strong contributions from rookie Luisangel Acuña as Lindor’s stand-in at shortstop with Jose Iglesias taking over his leadoff spot.

Acuna is 11-for-29 (.379) with three home runs and a 1.228 OPS in 30 plate appearances across nine games. Iglesias, meanwhile, is one of the hottest hitters in baseball. The veteran middle infielder is batting .419 with a .978 OPS during a 16-game hitting streak dating back to Sept. 6.