Francisco Alvarez and Jeff McNeil are getting nearer to returning to the Mets.
Alvarez (left hand fracture) is ready to start a rehab task with Single-A St. Lucie on Wednesday, whereas the Mets hope McNeil (proper indirect pressure) can begin a rehab task there this weekend, supervisor Carlos Mendoza stated Tuesday.
Each gamers took batting apply at Citi Discipline earlier than Tuesday afternoon’s recreation in opposition to the Miami Marlins.
McNeil was scheduled to journey to Florida later Tuesday and to face dwell pitching Wednesday.
“These obliques, they’re tricky, so we’ll continue to watch him,” Mendoza stated.
“We’ll continue to monitor him and see how he responds once he starts playing games and he starts facing arms, where it’s not only the fastball but the breaking ball that he has to pull the trigger on and make some swing decisions.”
McNeil, 33, and Alvarez, 23, suffered their accidents throughout spring coaching and each started the common season on the injured listing.
When Alvarez underwent surgical procedure for a fractured hamate bone on March 10, the catcher’s restoration was anticipated to take six-to-eight weeks.
“It’s gonna come down to him catching back-to-back [games], nine innings, getting four or five at-bats, but the progression starts kind of like spring training,” Mendoza stated.
“Five innings, off day, and then we’ll go from there, but the fact that he’s going to start playing games in real competition, that’s a good sign.”
McNeil, the 2022 Nationwide League batting champion, hit .238 with 12 residence runs and a .692 OPS final season. Alvarez batted .237 with 11 residence runs and a .710 OPS.
Their returns ought to fortify the underside of a Mets’ batting order through which Luisangel Acuña and Brett Baty, who’re filling in for McNeil at second base, have struggled. Luis Torrens and Hayden Senger, in the meantime, are usually not the offensive catchers that Alvarez is.
“It’s just going to continue to make our lineup a lot deeper, when you’re talking about a right-handed hitter with power in Alvy and a left-handed hitter in Jeff [with] bat-to-ball skills, batting-average type guy that can also drive the ball,” Mendoza stated.
“It makes us deeper and it adds balance to our lineup.”
MANAEA LATEST
Sean Manaea is additional away from rejoining the Mets.
The left-handed starter is a bit of over per week right into a two-week shutdown after he acquired a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection for his strained proper indirect.
He’s set to endure extra imaging subsequent week, however as soon as he begins to ramp up once more, he might want to undergo a full, spring-training-like build-up.
“He’s going to start from zero,” Mendoza stated Tuesday.
Manaea, who went 12-6 with a 3.47 ERA final season, re-signed with the Mets this winter for $75 million over three years.
The 33-year-old was initially shut down together with his indirect subject in late February earlier than struggling a setback towards the top of final month.
