Jesse Winker has been sidelined since the beginning of May, but he finally appears ready to roll.
The Mets' left-handed hitting slugger took the field in his potential final rehab appearance down in Syracuse on Sunday afternoon and he looked back in form.
It didn’t take Winker very long to make his mark, as he jumped on a first pitch sweeper from Worcester right-hander Cooper Criswell in the bottom of the first and crushed it 410 feet for a no-doubt two-run home run.
It was his first long ball with Triple-A, but the second on his rehab assignment.
He then worked the count full before drawing a walk to load the bases during his next at-bat, but he was a little too aggressive on the bases and was thrown out trying to advance to third on a Jared Young sacrifice fly.
Winker came up with a man on two innings later and he worked another walk, but after two more free passes forced in a run and loaded the bases, he was stranded as Jose Azocar struck out to end the inning.
The 31-year-old was finally retired in each of his final two plate appearances, flying out to center in the seventh and then the same leading off the bottom of the ninth.
Overall, he finished the day 1-for-3 with the two-run homer and a pair of walks.
Winker’s hitting just .143 through five games of his minor league rehab assignment, but he’s driven in seven runs and has a .904 OPS.
Carlos Mendoza said pregame that the Mets will see how he feels following the back-to-back contests, but there’s a chance he could rejoin the team as they kick off a series Tuesday in Baltimore.
Getting Winker back in the mix will be a huge boost for this offense — prior to the injury, he was receiving the bulk of the DH at-bats against right-handed pitching.
HEY JESSE!
Jesse Winker launches a two-run blast for Triple-A Syracuse! 💣 pic.twitter.com/dhiZelNhtJ
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) July 6, 2025
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