Mets hoping for mid-July return for prospect Drew Gilbert
Outfielder Drew Gilbert will be one of the Mets prospects in the Spring Breakout event against Nationals at 3 p.m Friday. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca
CHICAGO — Outfielder Drew Gilbert, one of the Mets’ top prospects, is moving toward a return — slowly.
The Mets hope he’ll be back from a right hamstring tear by mid-July, a person familiar with the matter said on Saturday.
That is significantly later than their initial hope of late May. But Gilbert has healed more slowly than expected, making this a lost season for the 23-year-old thus far.
Gilbert, a consensus top-100 prospect entering the year, played in only seven games with Triple-A Syracuse before suffering a leg injury. He batted .240 with a .681 OPS in his first taste of the highest level of the minor leagues.
The Mets acquired Gilbert (along with Ryan Clifford) from the Astros for Justin Verlander before the trade deadline last summer.
Reid-Foley sidelined
The Mets put reliever Sean Reid-Foley back on the injured list with a right shoulder impingement, the same injury that cost him the first 3 1⁄2 weeks of the season.
Reid-Foley is scheduled to get an MRI on Monday in New York, but for now, he hopes to miss only the minimum 15 days. He described the discomfort in the front of his shoulder as “pretty much the same as the beginning of the year.”
“I don’t have X-ray vision or MRI vision right now because we haven’t gotten one, but I would say it’s probably an impingement again,” he said. “But I think we’re going to be fine.”
To fill his roster spot, the Mets called up lefthander Danny Young from Triple-A Syracuse.
Including his 1 1⁄3 scoreless innings against the Cubs on Saturday, he has a 0.87 ERA in 10 games at the major-league level this season.
Manager Carlos Mendoza prefers to have a second lefthander joining Jake Diekman. This move allows for that again.
“I like it,” Mendoza said. “I like it a lot, especially what he’s done here.”
Senga update
Kodai Senga (right shoulder impingement) is scheduled to face batters — for the first time since his setbacks last month — Sunday in Port St. Lucie, Florida, according to Mendoza. It’ll be a one-inning live batting practice.
Ottavino’s new role
Adam Ottavino has taken in stride a changed role in the bullpen, demoted from late-inning high-leverage arm to multi-inning earlier-in-the-game guy. In his past three outings, he has recorded five, six and five outs — and two of those appearances came in blowouts.
Nobody communicated the switch to him, he said, but “it’s obvious” based on other factors. He struggled for a few weeks into June and others, such as Dedniel Nunez, stepped up as effective late-and-close options.
Plus, Ottavino noted, few of the Mets’ current relievers can pitch multiple innings, so he is happy to take that on.
“You don’t expect [the role change], but I can do it,” said Ottavino, who hasn’t allowed an earned run in his past seven innings (five appearances). “It’s another part of my skill set that I know I have.”
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.