The New York Mets will be without another key player on Opening Day. Second baseman Jeff McNeil has a low-grade oblique strain and will miss the start of the regular season, manager Carlos Mendoza announced Thursday. McNeil will be shut down 7-10 days and the Mets expect him to miss 3-4 weeks overall. Opening Day is exactly two weeks away.
McNeil, 33 next month, slashed .238/.308/.384 last year, though he was much better in the second half (.923 OPS) than the first (.591 OPS). An errant pitch broke his wrist and effectively ended his season in early September. The Mets have had a very rough spring on the injury front. Here’s a list of their walking wounded:
Furthermore, outfielder Brandon Nimmo is in the lineup Thursday for the first time in 13 days after dealing with soreness in his right knee that necessitated a gel injection. Thursday will be only his second game of the spring.
With Madrigal and McNeil sidelined, the Mets could turn to Brett Baty at second. Baty, a natural third baseman, began working out at second last year and is having a tremendous spring. Prospects Luisangel Acuña and Ronny Mauricio are also candidates to step in at second base, ditto non-roster invitees Donovan Walton and Luis De Los Santos.
“We’re gonna see what he can do,” Mendoza said about Baty possibly filling in at second base (via SNY). “We’re pretty comfortable right now. The reports that we got last year when he played in Triple-A were good, and what we’ve seen so far has been good. But again, we got three other guys in there that we feel comfortable too. And we’ll see how that goes.”
The Mets went 89-73 and made a spirited run to the NLCS last year. They then signed Juan Soto to a record 15-year, $765 million contract. Soto, Francisco Lindor, and others will have to carry a heavier load early in the season as the Mets navigate all these spring training injuries.
Read the full article here
