Mets' Reed Garrett dealt with arm injury 'longer than I thought'
Reed Garrett of the Mets reacts during the eighth inning against the Houston Astros at Citi Field on June 29. Credit: Jim McIsaac
SEATTLE — Reed Garrett returned to the Mets’ bullpen Saturday, not just newly healthy but also ready and refreshed.
He missed a month because of what the Mets determined was nerve inflammation in his right elbow. That needed to calm down and did. More generally, though, the absence served as something of a physical reset for the righthander who — in the months prior — pitched more frequently and in more high-stress situations than he ever had before.
The Mets rode him hard, especially during those times when he felt like their only reliable reliever. So he hopes the down time did him some good.
“It was a learning lesson,” Garrett said. “I had never experienced it before, so it was one of those things that I had to figure out. How do I navigate this? What’s normal soreness? What’s pain?
“I feel great right now, so that’s the biggest thing. Hopefully that translates into results. I really think that as much as it sucked to be away for a month, I feel like I did my best to learn from it.”
Garrett added that he has come to believe that the elbow/nerve issue was a problem longer than he initially realized or wanted to admit.
Just how long is hard to tell. But over his first month and a half, he posted a 0.72 ERA with 41 strikeouts in 25 innings — marks that put him among the best relievers in baseball.
In the next month and a half, he had a 7.94 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 17 innings.
Some of that, surely, was natural, inevitable regression for a guy who had never previously stuck around the majors for very long. But maybe some was attributable to an arm problem that he tried to pitch through.
“I thought maybe that it was just normal,” Garrett said. “The way I feel now, I might’ve been dealing with it for longer than I thought I was.”
Carlos Mendoza said he will use Garrett for one inning at a time “for now.” He often was used for one-plus in April-July.
“Huge addition to our bullpen,” Mendoza said. “He’s ready to go.”
The Mets sent lefthander Alex Young to Triple-A Syracuse to clear a roster spot for Garrett.
In on Otto
Mendoza was complimentary when asked to evaluate Adam Ottavino’s season.
“Other than the month of May, he’s been pretty consistent for us,” he said. “And I feel like that month, it was hard for a lot of people, for us as a team and a lot of our bullpen guys, and he was one of them. But he found a way, as he always does.”
Ottavino had a 9.28 ERA in May and has a 2.81 ERA in the other months.
Extra bases
Acquired to hit righthanded pitchers, Jesse Winker was out of the lineup against righty Logan Gilbert. Mendoza cited two reasons: Gilbert is more effective against lefthanded batters and “I wanted to see [Tyrone] Taylor in there, too” . . . Sean Reid-Foley (right shoulder impingement) is scheduled to pitch more than an inning for Triple-A Syracuse on Sunday . . . Also Sunday, Dedniel Nunez (right forearm strain) will throw a bullpen session, his first since being sidelined . . . The Mets are hosting their annual summer blood drive at Citi Field from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday. Anybody who donates will receive two tickets to a select regular-season game . . . Mendoza said he would like to see major-leaguers participate in the 2028 Olympics but wasn’t sure about the logistics of a multi-week midseason tournament.
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.
