The New York Mets are placing outfielder Juan Soto on the injured list after suffering a right calf strain in his team’s series against the Giants.
The expectation is that Soto will miss the next 2-3 weeks of action after he felt a twinge running from first to third base on Friday. He was subsequently thrown out on a force play at home base and was lifted from the game.
With the team off Monday, the Mets recalled infielder Ronny Mauricio from Triple-A Syracuse in a corresponding move. Because of the injury, New York will need get creative with their outfield deployment.
The Mets previously moved Soto to left field to begin the season, paving the way for top prospect Carson Benge to play in right. Through the first week and change of the season Benge has a .100/.206/.200 line across 34 plate appearances. As a result, it’s unlikely that Benge will be sent down to sort his swing out, and will instead need to adjust on the fly at the major league level.
Making matters worse, Brett Baty has been sidelined due to a jammed left thumb while Jorge Polanco has an Achilles issue that is limiting him to designated hitter duty. If Baty isn’t able to slide into the outfield mix, Jared Young and Tyrone Taylor could see an uptick in playing time.
The Mets will open up a six game home stand on Tuesday against the Diamondbacks, before welcoming the Athletics to town. Fans should get some clarity on how the team plans to patch their outfield together over the next few days.
Photo: Leo Altes. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.