Mets pitcher Joey Lucchesi will undergo Tommy John surgery, ending his 2021 campaign
NEW YORK — A second opinion confirmed what Joey Lucchesi and the Mets already knew: the left-hander will need Tommy John surgery.
Lucchesi will have the torn ligament in his left elbow repaired on Thursday, ending his 2021 campaign and taking him out of the equation for most, if not all, of the 2022 season.
“Tough break for Joey and for the club,” said Mets acting GM Zack Scott on Tuesday. “But yeah, he’s got a full tear, so it was pretty cut and dry that he needs TJ.”
Lucchesi, 28, had emerged as a strong fifth starter before he felt inflammation in his pitching elbow last weekend. He posted a 1.19 ERA in his last five starts, his final trip to the mound a strong 5 1/3 scoreless outing against the Nationals on Friday.
The Mets acquired Lucchesi from the Padres in a three-team trade in January. He began his 2021 season shuffling back and forth from the rotation to the bullpen with mixed results and a 9.19 ERA through his first six outings and three starts. He turned his year around in mid-May when he stopped tipping his pitches. Around that time, Lucchesi’s teammates began putting up an OK sign for every on-field celebration in recognition of his one-of-a-kind pitch, the churve.
“I think this is going to be a time of growth for him,” Mets manager Luis Rojas said. “There’s a lot of people going through the same process that are on this team and that can give a lot of good advice on what to do throughout this time and how to face it and how to be better when he gets out of it.”
Lucchesi, of late, had made the Mets better. The tough blow to their rotation means the front office is looking for starting pitching both internally and externally, per Scott. Though the July 31 trade deadline is weeks away and the Mets need help now, they will likely need rotation reinforcements from the farm system to get them through, in the short term.
Scott said in addition to Jerad Eickhoff, who pitched four scoreless innings against the Braves on Monday in his Mets debut, Triple-A pitchers Thomas Szapucki and Tylor Megill are both candidates to slot into the rotation before the club makes a potentially significant long-term move.
“Realistically, we’re still in June,” Scott said. “It’s not even July yet, so we’re still looking at a market that, the prices tend to be pretty high until you get closer to that deadline. I don’t think it’s different so we’re going to explore all options. I’m on the phone a lot still trying to see what is out there, what’s available to us and figure out what the acquisition costs are for any players.”
Scott talked about how hard the Mets will push for a frontline starter before or at the trade deadline: “We’re going to explore all options so yeah, obviously it would be great to add a player who could impact the team. But also, there’s value in finding players that can stabilize the team as well. We think we’ve got a good club with all the players that we have. Sometimes the stabilizer is the more proven thing to do both short and long term.”
The Mets have held onto first place for the past six week and, in that time, Lucchesi had given them six outings where he allowed zero or one earned run. Under team control until 2024, Lucchesi was pitching like he found the solution that would allow him to be a viable long-term option for the club. At least in the immediate future the Mets will pivot to their internal arms in Szapucki, Megill and Eickhoff hoping to catch lightning in a bottle again.
