He only made nine appearances last season due to a knee injury… But Mariano Rivera is going into next season with high hopes.

The 43-year-old Panamanian baseball pitcher, who signed a one-year, $10 million deal to return to the pitching mound for the New York Yankees, says he’ll be ready to pitch on Opening Day.

Rivera, speaking to reporters this week at the Yankees’ annual holiday food drive, said he’s “feeling good” as he continues to rehab a torn ACL.

“Oh, yeah, I don’t see why not,” Rivera told the New York Daily News about being ready for the Major League Baseball opener on April 1.

“We have at least three months, four months until that point. I’ll be ready,” said Rivera, who suffered the injury in May.

He told the Daily News he hasn’t started throwing regularly but recently lobbed the ball off the mound during a commercial shoot.

“My arm is good,” Rivera told the Daily News. “Everything else feels good. I will start throwing a baseball pretty soon.”

“The leg’s getting stronger and stronger,” Rivera told the Daily News. “You have to give it time. I’m doing my part and time is doing its part.”