NEW YORK — Not much has gone wrong for the first-place Mets to start the 2022 campaign.
But the team suffered a blow on Friday when it was announced that catcher James McCann suffered a broken bone in his left wrist and will need surgery.
The Mets projected his recovery time at approximately six weeks and he was placed on the 10-day IL. Patrick Mazeika — who became a cult favorite for Mets fans after his 10th-inning heroics in the May 7, 2021 win against the Arizona Diamondbacks — was recalled from the Syracuse Mets.
The severity of McCann’s injury was somewhat of a surprise considering on Thursday, the catcher and manager Buck Showalter expected him to be back in the lineup for Friday’s series opener against the Seattle Mariners.
McCann was left out of the lineup the last two games of the Mets’ series against the Nationals in Washington with what the team said was general wrist soreness. He did come off the bench in Thursday’s win, and was confident enough with how his wrist felt to say that he “definitely could’ve played” on Wednesday.
But on Friday, after not showing significant enough improvement, Showalter said McCann was sent out for X-rays “to be on the safe side,” which revealed the hamate fracture.
“It’s sad because he was starting to swing the bat,” the Mets manager said. “We had [Jacob deGrom], we had Trevor May, we had [Sean Redid-Foley] and now McCann [injured]. So when I say harmony is not the absence of problems, it’s just the ability to deal with them. So it’s an opportunity for Mazeika now.”
The Mets manager said neither the team nor McCann have been able to figure out when or how his injury developed, but they’re still looking into it. Showalter also said that McCann’s injury is common.
“Our people are always looking for, OK, what could we have done differently,’” Showalter explained, “or was it just wear and tear or was it one swing? Mac, we talked to him about it. He really can’t pinpoint anything. I haven’t spoken to him today about it.”
McCann on Thursday said he didn’t think he was injured during any play at the plate or on any swing. Showalter said McCann also told him that any kind of catcher’s interference wouldn’t have been a cause.
“It’s tough,” Showalter added later. “I know how much Mac likes being on the club and contributing and being part of it. We’re gonna see him again and he’s gonna be contributing again.”
Kelenic sent down
Jarred Kelenic, who was once the Mets' top prospect after they drafted him No. 6 overall in 2018, was sent back down to the minors on Thursday.
Kelenic, whom the Mets traded to the Mariners in December 2018 for Edwin Diaz and ex-Met Robinson Cano, has had a rocky big league career since getting called up in May 2021.
In 93 games last season, he hit .181/.265/.350, striking out 106 times in 337 at bats. He was optioned on June 7, then recalled again on July 16. So this is the second time Kelenic has been optioned in two seasons.
“Don’t expect players to be happy when things like that don’t go their way and he’s off to a rough start,” Mariners’ manager Scott Servais said of Kelenic’s reaction to getting sent down again. Kelenic was informed he was getting optioned after the Mariners were already in New York for Friday’s game. “He wants to get it going right as quick as he can and knows he does need to step back and get an environment that’s gonna allow him to do that.
“Probably not gonna happen here right now, so let’s do the right thing for the player, which we’ve always tried to do. And I think stepping back right now is the right thing. He understands it.”
He played 30 games with the Mariners’ big league club, in which he bat .140 /.219/.291, striking out 36 times in 86 at bats. That was enough for the Mariners to send him away to work on himself again. But Servais isn’t worried about his struggling left fielder.
“He’s 22 years old. There’s like five guys in the league that are that age or younger. He’s so young,” Servais said. “I don’t wanna say ‘go do this and everything’s gonna be fine.’ We don’t know. I do know if somehow he can put a smile on his face, go out and play for the love of playing baseball and take a little bit of the pressure off, we’ll see what happens.”
Asked what exactly Kelenic needs to work on, Servais said: “He needs to relax and play the game and go have fun again. Baseball is a fun game when you’re doing well and you’re playing up to your capabilities.”
