Mets' Starling Marte: My injured knee 'could've given out at any moment'
Starling Marte of the Mets looks on after flying out during the seventh inning against the Dodgers in the second game of a doubleheader at Citi Field on Tuesday, May 28. Credit: Jim McIsaac
MIAMI — When Starling Marte relented last month, finally allowing Mets doctors to examine the right knee that had bothered him for weeks, they couldn’t believe what they saw.
The official diagnosis was a bone bruise, in this case an overuse injury. It was close to being much worse.
“I thought it would go away, but it just never did,” Marte said through an interpreter Saturday, his first public comments since going on the injured list nearly a month ago. “And then when the doctors looked at the imaging, they were surprised by how much I was able to play on it. They did think that at some point, the bone could give out.
“The doctors said it was best to shut it down at that point. The way that I was playing, it could’ve given out at any moment. It wasn’t something that I expected. It was kind of a surprise . . . They wanted to protect me from it.”
Marte’s absence remains indefinite. He has managed to do only the most basic of baseball activities — playing catch, hitting off a tee — and is limited to small, careful steps in that progression, pain permitting.
The Mets are not in a hurry. They have used Jeff McNeil, Tyrone Taylor and DJ Stewart in rightfield in Marte’s stead, though none has provided the offensive punch that Marte did for three months.
“We’re taking our time here,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We’re going to make sure that when he’s back, he’s 100%.”
Marte said: “That’s the reason why we were shut down for this long time, to let the bone heal and let the pain subside completely . . . It doesn’t help anyone for me to try to rush this injury and get back on the field just for me to get hurt again.”
Roselli goes pro
Levittown native and former Division High standout Nick Roselli officially signed with the Mets on Saturday, less than a week after his hometown team selected him in the 11th round of the draft.
Roselli, 21, is a lefty-swinging second baseman who played for Binghamton the past three years.
Good news for Garrett
Reed Garrett played catch on Saturday for the first time since the Mets shut down the reliever with right elbow nerve inflammation 10 days earlier.
He is hoping for a quick ramp-up and return, which is feasible given his relatively short down period.
“For day one, first step, I couldn’t ask for a better day,” Garrett said.
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.
