Francisco Lindor hopeful of returning before end of season

NEW YORK — Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor said Sunday that he’s unlikely to play without back pain again this season, but he continues to progress toward a return that could occur as soon as Tuesday in Atlanta.

“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. “And I’m OK with that. I just don’t want it to be a constant pain where I can’t bend over. 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.”

Lindor took batting practice for a second consecutive day on Sunday, but it was an abbreviated session that he chalked up to hitting his “threshold” for discomfort in his lower back.

“Every day I’m pushing it to the limit, and today I hit that limit, and then I just felt like that was enough,” Lindor said. “The goal is to come in every day and work as hard as I can to reach that limit that the trainers … want me to hit. And then we go from there. Today, I got to that threshold. So it was another day, another slow step in the right direction.”

Since injuring his back during a Sept. 13 game in Philadelphia, Lindor has played a total of one inning. He returned two days after suffering the injury but aggravated it that night and shut things down. He hasn’t appeared in a game since, and he said Sunday that his pain was initially severe enough that he “couldn’t really walk” and was “rolling out of bed.”

Last Thursday, Lindor received a facet joint injection into his spine, which was designed to relieve his symptoms. While the injection “definitely made [the pain] a little bit more mild,” Lindor said, “it didn’t fully take it away.”

“I feel it,” he added. “It’s definitely there.”

Still, Lindor has described this mostly as a pain tolerance issue, giving him hope that he can return this season — perhaps sooner rather than later. He is not ruling out a return as soon as Tuesday in Atlanta, where the Mets open a key three-game series against the defending National League East champion Braves.

Asked if he is certain he’ll return in the regular season, Lindor replied: “I’m optimistic that I’m going to play. I have faith. I believe in the Lord. And I believe in what the trainers are doing. … I’m doing everything I can day in and day out to try to be in a position where I can get back and play. I want to be there as much as anybody.”

Prior to his injury, Lindor was challenging Shohei Ohtani for the National League MVP Award. He remains one of the NL’s most productive players despite his extended absence, with a .271/.342/.494 slash line, 31 homers and 27 stolen bases in 148 games.

Mitigating Lindor’s absence is the fact that rookie Luisangel Acuña has thrived since his call-up, slashing .379/.400/.828 with three home runs, two doubles and one triple in nine games. Acuña has served as the Mets’ everyday shortstop over the past week and credits Lindor for helping ease his transition to the Majors.

But the Mets understand they are a better team with their MVP in the lineup.

So far, Lindor has run, thrown, taken ground balls, hit on the field and tracked pitches in the bullpen. Although he hasn’t run the bases or faced live pitching since his injury, Lindor said that won’t necessarily stop him from returning as soon as he’s physically able to do so.

“We all play with pain,” Lindor said. “I think players would be lying if they said, ‘Oh, I feel 100 percent.’ … At the end of the day, we’ve just got to make sure we’re in a good spot where we can play.”