James McCann is returning to the injured list for the second time this season, and Buck Showalter expects the Mets’ starting catcher to miss more than the minimum 10 days.
McCann suffered an oblique injury while applying a tag in the sixth inning of Saturday’s 10-inning win over the Marlins. He also spent more than six weeks on the IL with a fractured hand before being activated on June 25. Patrick Mazeika was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse to back up Tomas Nido in Sunday’s series finale at Citi Field.
“It won’t just be the [IL] period. … It’ll be longer than 10 days,” Showalter said before Sunday’s 2-0 loss to Miami. “Obviously for the team, too, but I’m disappointed for him.
“The trainers were talking about it. I don’t know if they’ve ever had anybody work harder to get back from the hamate [injury]. I know Mac was really disappointed [Saturday] night, wanted to get some different news. But it’s the nature of what these guys do for a living.”
Mets catcher James McCann suffered an oblique injury making this tag in the sixth inning on Saturday. Robert Sabo
James McCann (l.) was placed on the injured list. AP
Showalter said the Mets “actually got good news” from the MRI results on outfielder Starling Marte, who departed Saturday’s game with left groin tightness.
“We’ll look at him as day-to-day and I’m hoping it’s not too long,” Showalter said.
Marte, one of four Mets selected to the NL All-Star team Sunday, has a slash line of .380/.436/.600 over his last 13 games to raise his overall average to .291 with an OPS of .803.
“Everything came out fine, just slight inflammation,” Marte said through a translator. “I’d been feeling it for a couple of days and thought it was something I could play through. … I’m still getting some treatment, but hopefully I’ll be out there as soon as possible.”
Infielder Kramer Robertson was in the clubhouse before the game and is likely to be activated Monday to replace Jeff McNeil, who left after the game on paternity leave for the birth of his first child. Robertson’s mother, Kim Mulkey, is the head coach of the women’s basketball team at LSU.
Showalter said the Mets will announce the schedule for Jacob deGrom’s third minor league start after he comes through a side session Monday. … Outfielder Travis Jankowski is expected to rejoin the Mets in Atlanta. “That’s the plan, but we’ll see how it goes,” Showalter said. “You want to make the baseball gods laugh, tell him about your plan.”
