Juan Soto’s second calf injury sparks questions about Mets training
· Yahoo Sports
NEW YORK — After this disaster of a Mets season ends and the Mets start their postmortem, they’ll have to find out why Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor both suffered calf injuries, Jorge Polanco suffered an Achilles injury, and whether there is any correlation with their training program.
Soto was placed on the 10-day injured list Saturday with a Grade 2 left calf strain, his second time going on the IL this season with a calf strain. In April, Soto suffered a minor strain to his right calf in San Francisco, costing him only about three weeks of the season.
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This time, he’ll be out for much longer, though the Mets declined to announce a tentative timeline. A typical timeline for this injury is 4-6 weeks, which would put him on track to return at some point in September. At that point, it might be more prudent to shut him down for the season, but interim manager Andy Green said he does expect Soto to return.
The club is having specialists review Soto’s MRI to determine a more precise timeline.
“Anticipation right now is it’s going to take longer than last time,” Green said Saturday ahead of the second game of a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. “He was out about three weeks last time, so it’s a little more significant than last time. It’s not what we were hoping for. He’s a guy we love having on the field; he’s a guy who loves to be on the field competing. We’ll be without him for a period of time now.”
Calf injuries and Achilles injuries tend to be related. The Mets have now had four of those injuries to three players this season, so it could simply be bad luck. It could also mean some of the training they’re having position players do is leading to a weakness in that area. It could also be both luck and training.
The club insists there are no commonalities they can find at the moment. Even if there is, they likely wouldn’t want to throw their training staff under the bus, and rightfully so. One positive with the Mets’ current culture is that guys aren’t afraid to report injuries. This is something they take pride in, and likely wouldn’t want to erode.
It’s also best not to anger or insult the medical staff, who still have jobs to do for the next few months. The team has consistently spoken highly of the club’s medical staff, Soto included.
Catcher Francisco Alvarez returned from meniscus surgery ahead of schedule this season, right-hander Clay Holmes is currently ahead of schedule with his rehab from a fractured fibula, and A.J. Minter had nothing but positive things to say after the way the team took care of him following his lat surgery last season, and his rehab into this season.
“It’s a frustrating set of circumstances,” Green said. “Definitely something we’ll reflect on and see if there’s anything that jumps out at this present moment. It feels unlucky to a degree, and it hasn’t been the same mechanism for each player, so when that’s the case, you’ve just got to look at each player and try to design their best path forward.”
The 27-year-old, $765 million outfielder has been one of the few bright spots this season, though that’s to be expected for a player of his caliber. His .947 OBP is the second-highest in baseball behind Houston’s Yordan Alvarez, and his .408 on-base mark is also No. 2 behind Alvarez. His 21 home runs lead the Mets by a large margin. Alvarez has hit the second-most with 12; Mark Vientos and Carson Benge have each hit 11, while Marcus Semien and Bo Bichette are behind them with 10.
Soto had been in the lineup as a DH more often than usual lately, especially over the last road trip with the Mets trying to mitigate the calf soreness. Without him, it will open up more DH at-bats for Polanco, who hasn’t been able to find his timing at the plate since coming off the IL earlier this month.
Limited to only nine games because of the way the Mets have to spread out at-bats, the switch-hitter has hit just .129 with two RBI, a walk and nine strikeouts in nine games.
“In the last week, Juan’s obviously taking quite a few of the DH at-bats, and I think that’s kind of stunted Polo’s ability to find some rhythm, so we’re going to try to get him back into a rhythm,” Green said. “He’s a guy we believe a lot in. Hopefully, as time goes on, we’ll get him to first base, and then we’ll see how the DH at-bats get divvied up at that point.”
Infielder Eric Wagaman was called up from Triple-A Syracuse to take Soto’s spot on the roster.