MARCH 13: Montes de Oca was diagnosed with a stress reaction in his elbow, reports Russell Dorsey of Bally Sports (Twitter link). Fortunately, examination didn’t reveal any ligament damage. He’ll be reevaluated in a week, and while it still seems as if he could start the season on the injured list, the issue doesn’t appear to be as concerning from a longer-term perspective as it seemed over the weekend.
MARCH 12: Mets right-hander Bryce Montes de Oca left today’s Spring Training outing due to a forearm strain, manager Buck Showalter told reporters (including The Athletic’s Tim Britton). Montes de Oca will undergo tests and imaging to determine the extent of the injury, and there is certainly plenty of extra concern considering de Oca’s history of arm troubles. The 26-year-old underwent a Tommy John surgery back in 2013 when he was a high school pitcher, and he had another elbow procedure while pitching at the University of Missouri.
A ninth-round pick for the Mets in the 2018 draft, de Oca was further sidelined by knee, back, and shoulder-related surgeries. Between those injuries and the canceled 2020 minor league season, de Oca didn’t make his pro debut until 2021. Since then, he has a 3.80 ERA over 85 1/3 career minor league innings (almost all as a relief pitcher), and he made his MLB debut in the form of three appearance and 3 1/3 innings last season.
Despite all of the injuries and de Oca’s relatively advanced age (he turns 27 in April) for a prospect, MLB Pipeline ranks him 22nd on their list of the Mets’ top 30 prospects. The upside is obvious, as de Oca’s 75-grade fastball often hits or surpasses the 100mph threshold, and he also has a cutter and slider that rank as plus pitches. De Oca has a hefty 10.5% walk rate during his minor league career, but he has also missed bats to the tune of a 31.6% strikeout rate. In addition, de Oca has also been excellent at keeping the ball in the park — he has allowed only a single home run in his 85 1/3 frames in the minors.
With all of this potential, it would be devastating to see de Oca’s career set back yet again by another major arm injury. The best-case scenario is a low-level strain that could be healed within a couple of weeks, but naturally the Mets will be quite cautious with a pitcher with such a lengthy injury history.
After the way I saw him toss the ball on an Instagram post recently, I’m not shocked. He needs to do something about his delivery.
Feel for the young man, but it sounds like bad mechanics from the comment above.
Lol
The words Forearm Strain are never good
Neither is Silicon Bank
Neither is Silicone Injection, close enough.
Thursday against Venezuela he threw a wicked two seam fastball for a strikeout and grimaced in pain after he released the pitch. The photographed used in this story shows the inverted W similar to what Strasberg does during his delivery and his history of injuries have been well documented.
“inverted W” would that make it an M?
Oh man. NYM pitching injuries are indeed starting but they are not alone and perhaps the best positioned in powerhouse NL east to patch it short term. This fellow was on the bubble to break camp, correct?
He had an outside shot at the last BP spot but was most likely destined for AAA since he still has options. He’s not far down the BP depth chart though.
Bad pitching coach the Mets have and 2 pure genius Pitching Coaches are a phone call away
Billy Conners & Don Cooper
He got the strain having his entire name tattooed on that arm.
Thats an amazing surname.
What is with forearm injuries and Spring training?
The two “strains”, “forearm” and “oblique”, here to stay.
He has 3 last names? Weird
No, he doesn’t.
1. Montes
2. De
3. Oca
That’s 3.
1. Montes
2. De Oca
That’s 2
1. Montes
2. de Oca
That’s 2.
No need for us to agree. Sure looks like 3 names to me. But to each his own.
It’s one name that has spaces in it. It’s no different than a Dutch last name like “van der Waals” and it isn’t “weird” at all.
Weird
I count four. But who’s counting?
He’s got an uncomfortable motion. Surprised it wasn’t a shoulder or elbow thing. Either way hope he recovers quickly.
Crazy he had Tommy John Surgery in high school. I really hope that’s not becoming a big thing.
Join the Mets, expect an injury. The trainers might be the worst in baseball.
Yes, because injuries are exclusive to the Mets, no other teams has them.
Plenty of other teams have injuries. It’s clearly wrong to claim “no other teams has them.” Yankees has them. Phillies has them.
Are you playing a character, right?
I’m a doctor not an actor, Jim.
Who? Is this guy any good?
Not at the moment.
Touché.
Suddenly everyone gets stress reactions everywhere