FORT MYERS, Fla. -- When you've pitched in the big leagues for parts of the last three seasons, the first outing of spring training usually isn't that big of a deal.
Unless, that is, you happened to suffer a concussion last August and miss the final seven weeks of the season recovering.
In that case, your first time back on the mound, facing hitters, is a bit more significant.
Such was the case for Steven Wright Monday, who tossed two shutout innings against Boston College in a 6-0 win for the Red Sox, with two hits allowed and four strikeouts.
"It's something I've been looking forward to since I got hit,'' said Wright, who was struck by batted ball in the outfield during batting practice in Miami last August, "especially missing the rest of the season. I've been looking forward to today just getting back into a game. It was nice to get my feet wet and now I can just concentrating on getting ready for the season.''
Wright went through all of the concussion protocol, and visited with specialist Micky Collins in Pittsburgh, but continued to have some symptoms.
He felt better late in September, but with the Red Sox hopelessly out of contention, there seemed little sense rushing him back and hurrying to build up arm strength in the final few weeks.
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Still, that uncertainty hung over him somewhat over the season and it wasn't how he wanted 2015 to end.
"It was definitely hard,'' he said, "because I was finally getting on a bit of a roll and getting a rhythm. I had a pretty good idea of when I was going to pitch and I had a little routine going. But it was a freak accident and there was nothing I could have done to avoid it. To this day, I think, 'What could I have done different?' But it's one of those things that was unavoidable.
"But I taught it me a lot about patience, so I'm just going to take that and apply what I learned last year to this year.''
In recalling dealing with the aftermath of the concussion last August and September, Wright said he was purposefully conservative in his comeback.
"I was definitely cautious a little bit,'' he said. "I like my life. I didn't want anything to affect my life just to try to get back sooner. I wanted to make sure that once it was done, it was done and I didn't have to worry about any symptoms or
setbacks or anything.
"I took it a little slow, but I think it definitely paid off in end.''
Monday, then, represented a mental hurdle for him more than any sort of physical challenge.
"Absolutely,'' said Wright. "Last year, I was getting a lot of headaches and the last hurdle was getting out in game situations. I felt normal, I felt strong. It was nice to kind of get that one checked off in the box and now just go forward.''
As for the outing itself, Wright was pleasantly surprised with the action on the knuckler even it came against some college hitters, most of whom have probably never faced a quality knuckleball.
"For me, it doesn't matter who's in the box,'' said Wright. "I'm going to go out there with the same intensity and game plan. I'm just going to try to throw quality pitches in the zone. For me, it's new to me because I hadn't been out there for seven months.
"I thought it was pretty good for the first time out there. It was a little more antsy than I would like to be, but it's something I can work on. for the first time out, I was really happy with how the ball was moving.''