Mets Injury Tracker: Brooks Raley expected to return next week

Here is the latest news and possible return dates for Mets players...

April 30, 4:29 p.m.

Left-handed reliever Brooks Raley has been playing catch and remains on track to return from the IL as soon as he's eligible, manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters.

Raley, who was placed on the IL on April 21 due to elbow inflammation, is eligible to return on May 5.

He has been one of the Mets' best relievers this season, tossing 7.0 scoreless innings across eight outings while allowing just two hits, walking three, and striking out nine.

Along with his 0.00 ERA, Raley has a 0.71 WHIP.

April 22, 12:12 p.m.

Kodai Senga and Tylor Megill, who are both dealing with shoulder injuries, recently took big steps.

Senga, who has a moderate right posterior capsule strain, threw his second bullpen session on Friday.

The next step for Senga could be facing live hitters, which would possibly be his final hurdle before beginning a rehab assignment.

Senga was transferred to the 60-day IL earlier this month in order for the Mets to clear a spot on the 40-man roster. He is eligible to return on May 27.

Megill threw his first bullpen session on Friday, according to Tim Britton of The Athletic.

The 28-year-old Megill began the season in the Mets' rotation (and made just one start before getting injured). It will be interesting to see what his role is when he returns.

Megill pitched in both a starting and relief role in 2022, but has been a starting pitcher only in his other big league seasons since making his debut in 2021.

March 31, 4:45 p.m.

Tylor Megill is undergoing a precautionary MRI on his right shoulder after he felt some tenderness late in Sunday's start against the Brewers.

Acting manager John Gibbons told reporters that the righty would've thrown the fifth inning after putting together a scoreless fourth, but the shoulder flared up.

"We had to take him out after four because of the shoulder so he's getting a precautionary MRI, so we'll know more about that when they're finished," Gibbons said.

Megill allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits while walking three and striking out four across his four innings of work.

March 24, 11:23 a.m.

Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns said on Sunday that ace Kodai Senga remains "on path" to start throwing this week.

"He remains on path to initiate his throwing program this week. I don’t have a specific day when that’s going to occur, but I would expect him to initiate the throwing program this week," Stearns said.

This matches up with the previous timeline the Mets offered on Senga, who is recovering from a posterior capsule strain in his right shoulder.

Senga, who was cleared by doctors late this week, requires a roughly six-week buildup before being back in big league games, making May a realistic target.

March 16, 2:58 p.m.

Jeff McNeil will play in a minor league spring training game Sunday and potentially return to the Mets for Tuesday's matchup with the St. Louis Cardinals, Carlos Mendoza said Saturday.

"He just got done swinging the bat ... and he's feeling great, but this is something that we want to make sure that he's under an environment where we can control it," Mendoza said. "So he's going to go down there, play five innings, get a few at-bats and, hopefully, everything comes out well, he'll play on Tuesday for us."

Mendoza clarified that the minor league game is not a setback for McNeil.

"No, no," Mendoza said. "He just, liked I said, another day, good day, full workout, defensive work, coach BP, velo machine -- he's just one of those where we want more, his first few at-bats in the game, in a controlled environment, if you want to call it. So we'll do that in a minor-league game before we put him in our game in here with us, potentially on Tuesday."

March 14, 11:31 a.m.

Jeff McNeil will play defense only in a Mets minor league game at spring training on Thursday, manager Carlos Mendoza said.

The second baseman will face some higher velocity in the batting cage Friday and will be evaluated afterward to see if he could potentially play in a big league game Sunday, but could require a few additional days, the skipper added.

"As of right now he’s feeling well, I saw him this morning, and he’s progressing well," Mendoza said, adding that they feel McNeil doesn’t need many at-bats during the spring to be ready for the start of the season. "This is a natural hitter, it doesn’t take much for him [to prepare]. We feel comfortable with where he’s at in his progression. And hopefully, we’ll see him in a game pretty soon, hopefully no later than next week."

Edwin Diaz threw a 25-pitch live batting practice on a back field Thursday morning before flying to New York for the birth of his child. Mendoza said "everything went well" for the Mets’ closer, who also did some fielding drills.

"Came out feeling good," Mendoza said of Diaz. "Another step in the right direction for him."

Brett Baty was back in the lineup for Thursday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals after back tightness forced him out of the lineup on Wednesday.

March 13, 6:30 p.m.

Mets third baseman Brett Baty was scratched from Wednesday’s game against the Houston Astros with what the team is calling “mild back tightness.”

The team also said Baty is considered day-to-day.

Mark Vientos took over for Baty at third base while Ji-Man Choi, who was not scheduled to start, was posted at first base instead of Vientos.

In 11 games this spring, Baty is hitting .241 (7-for-29) with one home run and three RBI.

After the Mets' 6-5 win on Wednesday, manager Carlos Mendoza said he expects Baty to be back in the lineup for Thursday's game against the St. Louis Cardinals.

March 11, 2:46 p.m.

As Jeff McNeil continues to try and get ready for Opening Day after he began spring training with a biceps issue, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said his second baseman had “another positive day” on the backfields.

“[He] played five innings on defense, got three at-bats just bunting and tracking [the ball], ran the bases,” Mendoza said. “He took swings today off the tee, tossed and hopefully the next step tomorrow is to take coach BP. But another positive day, moving in the right direction and all good.”

McNeil has yet to appear in a game for the Mets this spring, but he is confident he will be ready in time for Opening Day on March 28.

March 9, 10:45 a.m.

Jeff McNeil, who has been dealing with a biceps issue, took swings Saturday and called it a "very positive sign" as he works his way back to full health.

"Hitting was good, just did a lot of dry swings today and then hit off the tee," McNeil said. "Hit about 30 off the tee, probably about 85 percent. No problems at all. I'm feeling good. Very positive signs today, so start building up and get ready for games."

McNeil said he felt tightness on one swing in the cage and decided it was best to shut it down. He added that he never felt anything like this during the offseason, and made it clear that his elbow is not related to the biceps issue according to team doctors.

Going forward, McNeil is confident that he'll be ready for the start of the regular season, but there is not a target date yet for when he'll fully play in a spring game. Manager Carlos Mendoza later said that McNeil is "a week or ten days away" from game action.

March 7, 2:55 p.m.

Jeff McNeil continues to move in the right direction, according to manager Carlos Mendoza.

McNeil will start swinging a bat again on Saturday, and will likely play defense only in a minor league game on Friday.

On Thursday, Mendoza said that McNeil, who is dealing with a biceps issue, had "another good day" and is "not feeling anything, but we want to make sure we take care of this."

In other injury news, utility player Joey Wendle, who has been dealing with shoulder soreness, is in the starting lineup to make his spring debut on Thursday, and he will likely play 4-5 innings at second base.

March 5, 10:26 a.m.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza shared a positive update on second baseman Jeff McNeil on Tuesday morning, saying that the veteran is feeling “a lot better” after dealing with a biceps issue.

As of now, Mendoza and the Mets do not believe McNeil will need to undergo any type of imaging, and he should start to ramp up over the course of the next few days.

“The downtime the past couple of days helped. We’re going to give it another couple of days before we put him on a hitting progression, but a positive sign for McNeil,” Mendoza said. “He’s going to go through workouts today, do all the defensive drills, potentially tomorrow play in a minor league game just doing defense and get the ups and downs. Maybe two innings where he plays defense, comes back to the dugout and sits down, and then goes back to kind of get that process going. But (he’s) moving in the right direction. Probably another couple of days, two-three days, we’ll put him through a hitting progression.”

March 2, 11:24 a.m.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza spoke to reporters from the dugout Saturday ahead of the team's spring training game against the Miami Marlins, and gave updates on Jeff McNeil, Edwin Diaz, and Joey Wendle.

McNeil has been dealing with a left bicep issue that occurred while he was swinging, Mendoza said. He has still been fielding and the Mets do not believe it is serious as he has not gotten any tests.

"McNeil, he is dealing with left bicep," Mendoza said. "That came up a couple of days ago after live at-bats. He went in the cages and felt something with his swing. We don't think it's anything serious. He just shut down for a couple of days from throwing, he's doing fielding drills and all that. We'll reassess and see where he's at after the off day on Monday."

Back on Feb. 16, McNeil told reporters that there are “no problems” with his left elbow after it was discovered he had a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament at the end of last season.

As for Diaz, who is working his way back to full strength after missing all of last season, Mendoza said he is scheduled to throw again on Tuesday. Diaz threw live batting practice on Feb. 27, facing hitters including McNeil and Pete Alonso.

Mendoza added that Wendle has been dealing with right shoulder soreness, but is expected to be ready to start playing in spring training next week. He is scheduled to DH on Sunday in a minor league game, Mendoza added.

"Joey's probably going to be playing in games toward the end of next week," Mendoza said. "When position players reported after a couple of days, he experienced some right shoulder soreness and he was shut down for a couple days of throwing. But he's now building back up, I think he threw to 120 yesterday, he's throwing to bases. He's scheduled to DH tomorrow in a minor league game. So everything is progressing well, so I think the goal is to have him in games at some point next week."

Lastly, the manager noted that Brandon Nimmo will make his first Grapefruit League start on Sunday.

Feb. 22, 11:54 a.m.

Mets infielder Ronny Mauricio, who had surgery in January to repair a torn ACL, said on Thursday that he's working on strengthening his legs.

The next step will be running, and Mauricio is not ruling out a return this season.

"We don't have the exact dates or exact timeline, but what we want is to be able to get back on the field as fast as possible," Mauricio told reporters through an interpreter. "If that's September, yeah -- that would be the goal. But right now we don't have an exact timeline."

At the time of the surgery, the Mets said a typical return-to-play timeline would be eight-to-12 months.

The eight-month mark would be the beginning of September.

Feb. 16, 1:11 p.m.

Jeff McNeil said there are “no problems” with his left elbow after it was discovered he had a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament at the end of last season.

Speaking from the club house in Port St. Lucie, the Mets’ second baseman said that he “took a few months off” after receiving a PRP injection in late September. After treating the injury with physical therapy and rest, the veteran said he enters spring training “healthy right now, no problems at all.”

McNeil explained that an MRI in December “still showed a tear, but that’s somewhat normal."

“It’s a symptom-based kinda injury and I have no symptoms at all,” he said, adding that he wasn’t cleared to start swinging until December and was able to swing the bat "pain-free" and is confident the injury won’t require surgery.

“Doctors said it is something that may flare up day-to-day, might have a day where it’s a little bit bad,” he said. “But hitting three or four times a week this offseason didn’t have any problems with it. So, I’m really confident with that going into this year.”

Feb. 14, 8:59 a.m.

David Peterson, who had surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left hip in November, told reporters on Tuesday that he didn't think surgery was coming -- but that he's glad it's out of the way.

The left-hander is expected to miss the first month or two while recovering, but is already throwing as he works his way back.

Peterson wouldn't put a possible best-case scenario timeline on his return, but discussed where he's at in the process.

"Playing catch, working out, progressing well," he said. "Just continuing to follow the plan that we laid out -- check all the boxes and continue to get closer to 100 percent."

Peterson added that he's not yet sure when he'll get back on a mound.

While the Mets will be without Peterson for the start of the season, they have an established five-man rotation that will be led by Kodai Senga and also feature Luis Severino, Jose Quintana, Sean Manaea, and Adrian Houser.

Beyond the expected starting five are solid depth options including Jose Butto, Joey Lucchesi, and two prospects who could debut during the first half of the season if needed -- Christian Scott and Mike Vasil.