Mets' Jeff McNeil strains oblique and will miss three to four weeks
Jeff McNeil’s injury leaves spot for two of Brett Baty, Luisangel Acuna, Donovan Walton or Luis De Los Santos. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The Mets have lost a fifth player from the projected Opening Day roster to an injury that will cost him the start of the season.
Second baseman Jeff McNeil suffered a low-grade strain of his right oblique this week, manager Carlos Mendoza revealed Thursday. The Mets expect him to miss three or four weeks — which, given that the season begins in two weeks, means he likely will sit out for the first couple of series at least.
McNeil will be shut down from baseball activity for seven to 10 days.
“It could take more than that until he’s symptom-free and then he’ll start doing baseball activity again and ramping back up,” Mendoza said. “This could be tricky, so the first thing is let it heal. Hopefully it’s seven to 10 days until he’s symptom-free. If it’s more, it’s more. They’re telling us three to four weeks [until McNeil is back in the majors].”
McNeil, who felt sore after playing Tuesday, said: “I barely have any symptoms right now. It’s very minor.”
His temporary absence creates another opening in the infield for Brett Baty, Luisangel Acuna, Donovan Walton or Luis De Los Santos.
That foursome already was competing for the utility infield spot, which became open when Nick Madrigal fractured his left shoulder.
“The guys that we got here in camp that were competing for that last spot, now there’s two spots,” Mendoza said.
The primary problem with choosing Baty for the utility role was that he is the only candidate who does not play shortstop. Now, with one of Acuna, Walton and De Los Santos also all but guaranteed to make the roster, it makes it much easier to carry Baty, too.
Naturally a third baseman, Baty played second base Thursday against the Red Sox and is scheduled to do so again Friday against the Cardinals, Mendoza said. Baty said the second baseman’s glove — smaller than his third-base version so it’s easier to dig the ball out — that he has been breaking in is “almost game-ready.”
“We’re going to see what he can do. We’re pretty comfortable right now,” Mendoza said. “The reports that we got last year when he played in Triple-A were good. What we’ve seen so far has been good. But again, we got three other guys in there who we feel comfortable with, too. We’ll see how it goes.”
Baty said: “Injuries are a part of the game. If that means I need to get more reps at second base, then that’s what that means. I’m all for it.”
The 23-year-old Acuna, likewise, could stand to benefit now that an everyday position is available. He is at an age and stage of his career when teams typically prefer to have a prospect play regularly, as opposed to trying to figure out a part-time role.
“I’m pretty sure if we decide to go with him at the big-league level, there will be chances for him or whoever wins that job,” Mendoza said.
Acuna has batted .231 with a .528 OPS in a dozen Grapefruit League games.
“It’s been better as of late,” Mendoza said. “I felt like early on, he was trying to do too much. Now he’s more under control. You could see it [Wednesday] — calm, not trying to do too much, just getting good pitches. And he hit some balls hard. So we’ve seen that. When he’s doing that, he could be dangerous. I like where he’s at right now.”
Acuna said through an interpreter of potentially making the Opening Day squad for the first time: “Hopefully that’s the case, but I don’t control that. That’s why I have to continue to go out there and work and give my best self on the field. It would be a great honor to be on the Opening Day roster with this team and represent the Mets.”
In addition to McNeil and Madrigal, the Mets have seen Francisco Alvarez (broken hamate bone), Sean Manaea (right oblique strain) and Frankie Montas (right lat strain) go down.
“We know we have a good team not only because of the regulars but just the depth,” Mendoza said. “Here we are getting tested with our depth. We still feel good about it. It’s unfortunate that we have a few of them, but it’s part of it. We’ll be all right.”
Notes & quotes: Manaea resumed throwing on Tuesday, according to Mendoza. His follow-up MRI was clean, so he was allowed to in effect restart spring training, keeping him on pace for the initially expected mid-to-late April return . . . Brandon Nimmo (right knee soreness) returned to the lineup as the DH in a 3-2 loss to the Red Sox, his second game of camp and first in 13 days. He went 1-for-3 with a hard single and a strikeout . . . Dedniel Nunez said his two-inning live BP went well. He’s scheduled to make his Grapefruit League debut Monday . . . Juan Soto spent time chatting with Nelson Cruz, his former Washington teammate and the GM of the Dominican Republic’s WBC team. Will Soto play for the D.R. next March? “I might be,” a smiling Soto said. “I need permission from the boss.” He raised his bat and pointed to the Clover Park box where Mets owner Steve Cohen sits.
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
