Mets prove their injuries are already in midseason form after bizarre chicken incident
There has been a tradition in baseball of sacrificing a (rubber) chicken whenever a team has an injured player or gets in a slump. The New York Mets just might want to make sure their sacrifice to the injury gods is fully cooked through.
Outfielder Brandon Nimmo is the latest Mets player to succumb to a bizarre injury, and this one was of his own making. While cooking for himself during spring training, Nimmo ate undercooked chicken and fell ill, according to a report from the New York Post’s Mike Puma.
That malady held him out of Wednesday’s exhibition against the Miami Marlins along with team workouts, although it’s not expected to be very serious. Still, Mets manager Mickey Callaway said that the 25-year-old is expected to miss Thursday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals so as not to push him too fast and risk an issue with dehydration.
“He cooked some chicken and didn’t know how to cook, so he was throwing up all night,” Callaway said, via the New York Post. “We have to teach him how to cook so he doesn’t miss any more games.”
Nimmo made his spring training debut on Tuesday against the Detroit Tigers and went 1-for-5 with a strikeout out of the leadoff spot as the designated hitter. Assuming there are no further chicken-related injuries, Nimmo is expected to be the Opening Day right fielder for the Mets and may see additional time in center field.
The team’s first-round pick in 2011, Nimmo broke out last season with 17 home runs and a .263/.404/.483 line. His on-base percentage ranked fourth among all qualified hitters and was more than 50 points higher than any other Mets hitter with at least 300 plate appearances.
Whether or not Callaway’s offer to teach Nimmo how to cook is real, Nimmo has certainly learned that medium rare doesn’t taste nearly as good with chicken as it does with steak and burgers.
More chicken-related injuries
If Nimmo’s chicken-related incident sounded familiar, it’s because he’s not the only major leaguer to hit the shelf after eating chicken in the last few years.
In May 2016, Atlanta Braves shortstop Erick Aybar had to be taken to the hospital before a game to get a chicken bone removed from his throat. Fortunately Aybar made it out fine, and then-interim manager Brian Snitker said he looked OK but wasn’t speaking very well.
Aybar missed just the one game he was scratched for and came back to start the next game. However, he unfortunately hit the injured list just over a week later with a right foot contusion, perhaps because he never got around to sacrificing that chicken.
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