PORT ST. LUCIE — The high expectations surrounding the Mets this year in part prompted Daniel Vogelbach to address his weight during the offseason.
Vogelbach said he isn’t sure how much he has lost exactly because he hasn’t been tracking it, but estimated Monday he has dropped 20-25 pounds. He showed off his new slimmer form recently in an Instagram photo. Vogelbach was listed at 270 pounds last season.
“I just feel good,” Vogelbach said. “I’m ready for a season, a little different coming into a clubhouse this year where everybody’s expectations are high, and just trying to make sure that I’m ready to do my part to contribute.”
Vogelbach declined to provide specifics on his recipe for shedding the pounds.
“Obviously watching what I eat, but just working out and doing my routine,” Vogelbach said. “I wasn’t really that focused on one particular thing. Just coming in and making sure that I was in shape and ready to play from Day 1.”
The Mets picked up Vogelbach’s option for $1.5 million after he provided a solid lefty presence in the DH spot last season. In 55 games for the club after arriving in a July trade with the Pirates, he owned a .255/.393/.436 slash line with six homers and 25 RBIs.
Vogelbach begins camp as the team’s primary left-handed DH. The team’s possibilities from the right side include Darin Ruf, Tommy Pham and Mark Vientos.
Though he was used exclusively as a DH by the Mets last season, Vogelbach broke out his first baseman’s mitt for the first day of full-squad workouts and took grounders.
“I have played there in the big leagues quite a bit and whatever they ask me to do, I just don’t want to be blindsided by anything,” Vogelbach said. “Just make sure that I prepare myself every way that I can.”
Vogelbach is impressed with the amount of talent in the Mets clubhouse, but also the collection of personalities that have been assembled.
“There’s a lot of talent in the big leagues, but something that I think separates this group is the people,” Vogelbach said. “You can be a really good player, but I think the team chemistry — and that comes from guys like Francisco [Lindor] and Pete [Alonso] that have been here for a while, they lay the foundation of it’s important to be a good teammate.
“And it’s important to be a good person, and if you do that, that is how you win, because talent only takes you so far. When things get tight and games are close, chemistry wins.”
