The Mets announced that infielder/outfielder Jared Young has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to April 13th, due to a left meniscus tear. Outfielder MJ Melendez has been recalled to take his place on the roster. Young will undergo surgery, per Will Sammon of The Athletic. The team has not announced an expected recovery timeline.
It’s an unfortunate blow for both Young and the Mets. For Young personally, he was getting some big league time and making the most of it. He has usually hit well in the minors but came into this season as a 30-year-old with just 116 big league plate appearances. Injuries to Mike Tauchman, Juan Soto and Jorge Polanco opened up some playing time with the Mets this year. Young stepped up to take 23 plate appearances and produced a .350/.391/.450 line.
Unfortunately, his season will now be on pause for a while. Meniscus surgeries usually require a couple of months of recovery, give or take. For instance, Tauchman is also out due to meniscus surgery and his recovery will reportedly take six weeks.
Young’s path to playing time in the future will depend upon what else happens on the roster. Soto’s calf strain isn’t considered overly serious, so he’ll likely be back in the outfield before Young is healthy. Polanco’s Achilles injury has kept him primarily in the designated hitter slot, which has allowed Mark Vientos and Young to pick up some start at first base.
For now, Melendez comes up and will be making his Mets debut as soon as he gets in a game. A longtime member of the Royals, he signed a big league deal with the Mets in the offseason but has been on optional assignment so far this year. He has a subpar .216/.286/.431 line at Triple-A, which isn’t too far off his major league career line of .215/.297/.388.
The Mets will likely utilize a rotation of Carson Benge, Brett Baty, Luis Robert Jr., Tommy Pham, Tyrone Taylor and Melendez in the outfield, while Vientos might get more starts at first base. They don’t really have a clear depth infielder on the bench but Baty has experience at second and third, while third baseman Bo Bichette appears to be the emergency shortstop behind Francisco Lindor.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
