Jeff McNeil is dealing with a low-grade oblique strain and will be shut down from baseball activities for seven-to-10 days, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said.
The expectation is that McNeil will be out for three-to-four weeks, which means he will not be on the Opening Day roster.
McNeil’s injury could open the door for Brett Baty to be the starting second baseman in his absence.
Baty got some experience at second base last year at Triple-A Syracuse and has been getting starts there during spring training games — including on Thursday.
Mendoza listed Baty, Luisangel Acuña, Donovan Walton, and Luis De Los Santos as options to step in for McNeil.
The manager noted that the plan is for Baty to start Friday at second base as well, noting that “the other guys will get reps there, too” and said he would be comfortable with Baty filling in at second base on a regular basis when the season starts.
“Sure, yeah. We’re gonna see what he can do,” Mendoza said. “We’re pretty comfortable right now. The reports that we got last year when he played in Triple-A were good, and what we’ve seen so far has been good.
“But again, we got three other guys in there that we feel comfortable, too. And we’ll see how that goes.”
Regardless of who breaks camp as the starting second baseman — if anyone is even designated as such — it feels like a slam dunk that two players from the group of Baty, Acuña, Walton, and De Los Santos will make the 26-man Opening Day roster.
Baty has had a terrific spring training at the plate, with 10 hits in 27 at-bats, and has acquitted himself well defensively at second base and third base. He is hitting .370 with a .433 OBP and 1.100 OPS and has smacked two home runs.
As far as Acuña, he has hit better lately after a slow start. Overall, he has six hits in 26 at-bats to go along with a .528 OPS.
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