PORT ST. LUCIE – The class started at dawn on Friday at Clover Park, with Francisco Lindor taking a break from his role as a student to serve as a teacher.
Lindor, JD Davis and Luis Guillorme were doing the first landing field work on the left side of the infield when Lindor stopped the drill. The Mets team star gave Davis some advice on third base, apparently on how to get rid of the ball faster. The trio was being timed on their pitches to first base.
Infield coach Gary DiSarcina crossed the diamond, but Lindor, a two-time Gold Glove winner, took the lead to help a teammate for about 15 minutes before returning to work.
“It’s always fun to be around guys who are like this, who can help you and are willing to do that,” said Guillorme on Friday. “Having Francisco around has been great. He has helped everyone and I think he likes to do that. “
Friday morning’s improvised tutorial stood out, but moments like this have been common at the beginning of the camp, with Lindor also spending a lot of time on initial work sessions consulting his new double play partner Jeff McNeil.
Davis, who is trying to improve his defense to prove he can be the Mets’ third daily base, liked Lindor’s approach.
“You eat [his energy] immediately, ”said Davis earlier in the week. “To know that that type of player, that player of caliber is wanting to improve and is so focused on the details that, why are you not doing this? It comes with a little bit of a humble pie, where you should be getting extra work, working on it, working on it. Just because you’re a beginner, you’re a third baseman this year, whatever it is, you need to improve. If this guy is getting better, he is that good and is still proud of his craft, you should be doing it too. “
It quickly became clear that when the Mets changed Lindor from the Indians, they were not just getting a hitter and a productive defender.
In addition to taking the lead on the soundtrack playing in the rear – asking each of his teammates to add three songs to the playlist – Lindor has been the complete package, with his presence noticed daily.
“You talk about Lindor, the player he is and play that he can do – short[stop], with the baton, at the bases, but also as a teammate, listening to these things, giving feedback to the players and also receiving feedback, has a lot of value there ”, said coach Luis Rojas. “I am grateful that this is happening at the camp so soon.”