Mets reliever Bryce Montes de Oca is going to undergo arthroscopic surgery to remove bone chips from his throwing elbow, reports Russell Dorsey of Bally Sports (Twitter link). He’s expected to miss around four months.
Montes de Oca was already known to be starting the season on the injured list after being diagnosed with a stress reaction a few weeks ago. Still, there was some hope he wouldn’t lose too much time after imaging revealed he’d avoided any ligament damage. While that fortunately remains the case, the bone fragments will cost him the bulk of the 2023 season.
A Missouri product, Montes de Oca made his major league debut at the tail end of last season. He got into three games, allowing four runs in 3 1/3 innings. The big righty averaged just shy of 100 MPH on his sinker and sat in the mid-90s with his cutter during that limited look. That power arsenal had resulted in a huge 36.4% strikeout rate over 34 innings with Triple-A Syracuse. Even with significant control concerns, Montes de Oca posted a solid 3.44 ERA at the top minor league level.
While he certainly wasn’t assured of a season-opening bullpen spot, Montes de Oca could have factored in as middle relief depth throughout the year. If that’ll now be the case, it’ll have to be at the tail end of the season. The Mets can place him on the 60-day injured list whenever the need for a 40-man roster spot comes up.