PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The New York Mets’ spring of maladies continues: Infielder Jeff McNeil is the latest to hit the shelf, diagnosed with a low-grade right oblique strain that will put him on the injured list to begin the season. McNeil is expected to miss at least three to four weeks.
McNeil felt the injury after he last played on Monday, and the Mets ordered an MRI when the soreness didn’t dissipate by Wednesday.
McNeil will be shut down from baseball activities for at least seven to 10 days before being re-evaluated. Oblique strains can be tricky injuries, where trying to come back too soon can often lead to an aggravation.
McNeil also missed time in the second half of last season with a fractured right wrist, which halted the momentum he created with two strong months after the All-Star Game. McNeil entered spring training aiming to take it “super seriously” and to use it as a springboard into the regular season.
Nearly 20 percent of the Mets’ expected Opening Day roster will begin the season on the injured list. McNeil joins Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas and Francisco Alvarez as key pieces who won’t be ready for the club’s opener in Houston on March 27. And the player who would have slid in to replace McNeil, Nick Madrigal, is already out for the season after requiring surgery on a fractured shoulder.
“At the beginning of camp, we kept talking about our depth,” manager Carlos Mendoza said, “and here we are getting tested.”
Madrigal’s injury opened one spot for a utility infielder, and McNeil’s opens another. The four candidates for those two spots are Brett Baty, Luisangel Acuña, Donovan Walton and Luis De Los Santos. With the opening at second base in mind, Baty will see more extended time at a position he just started learning last summer. He’s starting at second base on Thursday and likely again on Friday.
“What we’ve seen so far has been good,” Mendoza said. “Every time we have an opportunity, Brett will get more looks there.”
Baty is having by far the best offensive spring of those four, entering Thursday with 10 hits in 27 at-bats. Acuña has stung the ball more lately following a slow start to camp, and Walton hit a grand slam on Tuesday.
In other, more positive injury news for the Mets, Brandon Nimmo is back in the lineup Thursday for the first time in almost two weeks. Nimmo had been dealing with a sore right knee that required an injection.
Furthermore, Manaea’s latest MRI came back clean, and the left-hander resumed throwing on Tuesday. Since he was shut down before he’d built himself up at the start of spring, Manaea will have to go through pretty much an entire spring training ramp-up of about six weeks to be ready for game action.
(Photo: Rich Storry / Getty Images)
