Mets infielder Jeff McNeil has been diagnosed with a strained right oblique that will sideline him for Opening Day, manager Carlos Mendoza announced to the team’s beat this morning (via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). He’ll be shut down entirely for seven to ten days, and the expectation is that McNeil will be out a total of three to four weeks.
McNeil, 33 in April, is coming off a .238/.308/.384 performance in 472 plate appearances last year. He popped 12 homers, tallied 26 doubles and went 5-for-6 in stolen base attempts while continuing to display excellent bat-to-ball skills (14.4% strikeout rate). He played his customary brand of solid defense in more than 800 innings of work at second base and also chipped in nearly 200 frames of corner outfield work, where he drew average grades from Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average alike.
Over the past two seasons, McNeil has turned in a roughly average .257/.323/.381 batting line (99 wRC+) with 22 homers in 1120 plate appearances with solid defense at three spots on the diamond. It’s a far cry from the combined .307/.370/.458 slash (130 wRC+) posted by McNeil through the first five seasons of his career in 2018-22, but an average hitter and defender with plus contact skills is still a nice contributor on any club. His injury subtracts a reliable if unspectacular bat from the lineup and will likely prompt the Mets to lean on a younger option with less track record in the majors.
New York has plenty of infield options, but McNeil’s injury could pave the way for Luisangel Acuña to get the Opening Day nod at the position. He could face competition from Brett Baty (though he’s more of a third baseman) or non-roster invitees in camp like Donovan Walton and Luis De Los Santos. Infielder Ronny Mauricio has yet to play in a spring game while finishing off his rehab from last spring’s ACL tear, but at last check the Mets said he was targeting mid-March for his Grapefruit League debut. Just based on his lack of reps so far, he feels like a stretch. Outside of Baty, none of the options in camp have performed particularly well in their small sample of spring plate appearances.
McNeil is the latest in a mounting number of injured Mets. He’ll join Francisco Alvarez (hamate fracture), Sean Manaea (oblique strain), Frankie Montas (lat strain) and Nick Madrigal (fractured shoulder) as spring training IL casualties. That set comes with a varying range of expected return timelines. Madrigal is out for the entire season. Montas will likely be sidelined into late May. Manaea and McNeil could return in mid-to-late April, assuming there are no hiccups in their recovery.
Get ready to learn Brett Baty buddy
To all Mets fans, should Mets get rid of McNeil? Is he still productive or useless like DJL??
He has flashes. Was great in the 2nd half last season. But can’t be counted on, imo.
He’s a couple tiers above DJLM in my eyes- even with the bat falling to basically league average he’s still averaged out to a 2.0 bWAR player these past two years and put up a .923 OPS in the second half of 2024 before getting hurt on an HBP. LeMahieu was basically unplayable last year and seems to have hit the decline phase much harder than McNeil.
Unload McNeil Marte Taylor Nimmo
OMG not one mention of Jose Iglesias…..
Probably because he’s in Padres camp
I knew that. But not to say he could have been a veteran option until just two weeks ago?
Mets fans better know 2nd would be new for Baty, and Acuna probably needs more time in the minors to develop better pitch recognition.
But right, short-term (one month), they may be able to get by with either……
Plenty of short-term options will be available in the coming days/weeks as NRI’s get cut/opt out of their deals. Nicky Lopez opted out of his Cubs deal already and many more to come
Wired stuff going on in both NY camps
Wired or weird?
Totally Wired!
Always love a The Fall shout in the MLBTR comments section 🙂
Fellow fans of The Fall, you love to see it.
Acuna 2B…
Given his AAA performance last year that could be risky.
Think Acuna has some potential but the kid isn’t ready. It’s probably Baty as he seems to be having a good spring.
Could be both
Pretty significant fall from grace for the squirrel.
Those 2 5-WAR seasons look like modern miracles. How?
Seems to me McNeil had a quicker bat back then. No facts to back that up.
He would have had a third one if not for the pandemic. So three 5 WAR seasons in a three year span is a miracle?
Based on the other years, yes. It’s nice you’re giving him the benefit of his projections based on a 60-game season.
Even more was his 3.2 WAR in only 60 games as a rookie. He was a really consistent very good player his first five years and it wasn’t a miracle. Some players only have a good five year run in them. Better then most.
Mets version of DJ LeMahieu
He’s getting there, DJ was atrocious last year, McNeil still has some gas left in the tank I think.
He’s trending towards to “LeMahieu Line”
Baty and Acuna have a shot to make McNeil a bench piece that the Mets would look to unload. Let’s see if they take advantage of this opportunity.
Opportunity for Baty to have his Vientos like emergence
I still don’t think Baty will produce during the season if he gets a shot at playing regularly or as a part timer. Spring training is spring training. McNeill could be his old self after recovering. Let Acuna be full time 2B until then.
Acuna is likely not ready, a nice cup of coffee notwithstanding. He has really struggled at AAA.
He has an elite glove and didn’t struggle in his short stint in the majors and in the Dominican winter league. He said the lighting was much better in the majors than AAA. It’s not like he has to stay up all year if he struggles.
A limited 40-PA stint and winter ball have about as much credibility as early spring training does. But since you went there, Acuna is struggling a bit this spring.
We are talking a two to three week call up. If he doesn’t hit them he goes back down. If he does then he earns more time. It worked just fine last year.
Fair point. And TBH, I prefer his glove, speed, and the fact that he can play some OF. I also believe Baty needs more than just the 25 or so games at 2B that he got in AAA last year.
I’m just saying that what he did last year is proof of nothing. And I get frustrated at the far too many fans who get far too excited far too soon about far too many prospects.
At the end of the day, it will probably come down to who is hitting better at the end of spring training. Key words: at the end. The last two weeks of spring are far more indicative of what a player might do than the first two. Because that’s when the real MLB pitchers are getting more time on the mound. Acuna had a nice day yesterday. And while its gone unnoticed by most, Baty has cooled off considerably since the beginning of March. Let’s see how it plays out.
I think both of them will be on the roster. They still need a backup infielder. Ideally they trade Marte and have two back up infielders.
Eventually. I think Marte gets traded the instant Baty demonstrates (if he ever does) that he is ready to stick at the MLB level for good, even if only as a platoon. Then Baty plays 3B against righties and Vientos DHs. Against lefties, Vientos plays 3B and Winker DHs. If Baty hits both sides, Vientos becomes full time DH.
Panic City is Back!
Not really. This is probably one of the least impactful injuries they could have. McNeil is merely solid and the Mets have two youngsters (Baty, Acuña) that they need to take a look at, anyway.
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McNeil looked good this spring. Old swing was back like 2nd half last year.
Rhys Hoskins was right
What did Rhys have to say about Jeff’s oblique?
Perhaps his angle on things was more obtuse than oblique…
Did Rhys say he was unlikely to produce again and the Brewers would be trying to dump him?
FWIW, Hoskins is tearing it up in Spring Training. Perhaps a return to form.
Did any MLB players sustain oblique injuries in the 80s or 90s or even into the 2000’s? Maybe I just don’t remember them. It just seems like in the past 10 years there have been more oblique strains than there were in the rest of the history of baseball.
We really didn’t get a full diagnosis back then. It was more of a player just went on the IL.
Thanks @Mets Era Thumping Soto. Obliques, Intercostals, along with all the other muscle strains, I had wondered if it might be the result of kids choosing a single sport to play year round at a younger age. The kid that might have played Football, Basketball and Baseball, these days has to pick one if they want to play travel. Thought maybe playing multiple sports growing up might have helped develop muscles better and have less injuries as an adult, but you are probably right, better imaging, better reporting.
Injury reports then were limited to upper/lower back, shoulder, forearm/wrist, abdomen, and side. In high school, I did clerical work for a renowned NYC orthopedic surgeon. The diagnostics were available but not as refined today.
McNeil was a product of the shift, he could shoot the ball against the shift with the best of them. Once shift was eliminated his average dropped and he looks lost at the plate. Probably time to move on if they can trade him at all.
Then explain his +.900 OPS over the last 4 months of 2024
He was platooned and had only 128 at bats the second half. not a lot of at bats to asure he was the McNeil of old.
Jeff had over 225 ABs from June until his injury in September.
He hit very well in the later half of last season. We deserve to see if he can repeat/sustain that before deciding to trade him. If he can, he is worth keeping until one of the kids proves (not hints) at being ready to replace him. Plus that increases his trade value. If he can’t, his trade value is not much. But even then he still has some value as an (albeit overpaid) reserve. especially in a year in which the Mets are carrying only 4 legitimate OFs, and one of them is wrestling with not one, but two now chronic leg injuries.
Did someone slide into him too hard again?
That’s not how oblique strains occur
He strained his oblique while arguing with an Umpire after he took strike 3 right down the middle.
McNeil is the least happy baseball I ever saw. Mets could be up by 7, and he’s furious over a called strike.
the reddest ass in the league, that’s for sure
Acuna will take second and never give it back.
It’s great if that happens. But letting Baty lose the opportunity first is the better way to do it; Baty knows that this is his last chance to avoid being a change of scenery dump…
Yeah, there’s a reason we’ve seen Baty play only twice since 3/7.
Is that because he is getting more work at other positions? Or because his OPS was 1.4 in February and is only .598 in March? He did this two years ago and nobody seemed to notice. Worth keeping an eye on.
Yeah, I would love to see that kid go out there and shine, and he will
You probably have a point with the kids playing multiple sports being in overall better condition. Kids are also trying to pitch to hard all year long now. Probably a big reason for all the elbow surgeries.
The posted a link here a number of years ago to a podcast interview with Dr Frank Job, who developed and pioneered the TJ surgery. And that is one of the three or four things he to which he attributed the increase in TJ surgeries, and more importantly, the dramatic increase in younger and younger players getting it. I don’t know if it is still accessible here or how to find it. But it is well worth the listen.
I find it amazing that he provided all of that data and medical explanation nearly a decade ago, and no one anywhere seems to be following through on his recommendations.