Wright relied on ‘subtle’ leg kick to start season

NEW YORK — The sight of David Wright in the batter’s box inspires double-takes now because he is, literally from the ground up, a different hitter than he was before. Marlins infielder Martin Prado learned this on a sunny day in Florida this spring, when he noticed something new in his old friend.

Wright and Prado are contemporaries, having debuted two seasons apart. And for so many of Prado’s 116 career games against the Mets, he’s watched Wright’s swing unfold a certain way.

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For the majority of his career, Wright would plant his front foot when the pitcher first showed the baseball. Then he would coil on it, his front leg and back elbow twisting in unison, creating potential energy as he turned his hips. His bat now cocked forward, Wright recognized the pitch with his head still. Then he drove his back hip through the zone against his stiff front leg, the tension creating the compact three-part swing that produced the most hits in Mets history.

“I’m a mechanics guy,” Prado said. “So I noticed he wasn’t doing that anymore.”

Wright was using a leg kick, a high-risk, high-reward approach to hitting he started considering after last year’s World Series appearance. Wright texted Mets hitting coach Kevin Long in December with two reasons to rationalize playing around with the new approach. First, he wanted to alleviate some of the strain his torque-heavy swing put on his spinal stenosis. Second, the former All-Star sought a “rhythm” he …

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