It's been a long road back for Yoenis Cespedes. The New York Mets slugger has been on the disabled list with a hamstring issue since April 27, and suffered a quadriceps injury that briefly stopped his rehab assignment at the end of May.
On Friday, though, there was good news in Flushing when it was announced Cespedes would at last be activated from the disabled list for Saturday's doubleheader in Atlanta. Indeed, he's in the Mets' lineup for Game 1 of the double dip, batting third and playing left field.
But, as has so often been the case for his team this season, there appears to be one small problem. While speaking to reporters ahead of Saturday afternoon's first pitch, Cespedes admitted his running isn't back to normal yet even though he's in the lineup.
"I wasn't able to take a lot of live (batting practice) this last week down in Florida," the 31-year-old said, according to Marc Carig of Newsday. "I feel good. But I don't know that I can run (at) 100 percent at this point yet."
Cespedes initially suffered the hamstring injury - called a "cramp" by the club at the time - on April 20. After a quick return from that initial ailment, he suffered the strain while running the bases a week later, which ultimately landed him on the DL.
But while Cespedes may not be sure about his running abilities, he apparently passed all tests to the Mets' satisfaction, according to assistant general manager John Ricco.
"The way I interpret that (comment) is you're not going to come off the DL after having been out a month and go zero to 60 your first time out," Ricco said, according to James Wagner of the New York Times.
Ricco added that Cespedes was running at full speed during his rehab.
Before the injury, Cespedes was in the midst of a stellar start to his 2017 season, hitting .270/.373/.619 with six home runs and 11 walks in just 18 games.