Mets: Noah Syndergaard suffers setback in his most recent rehab start

New York Mets’ starter Noah Syndergaard underwent Tommy John surgery last March, so the team expected him to be ready to contribute in MLB around June or July if everything went according to the plan.

That was the case, until last night. Thor, one of the best starters on the Mets’ roster, had to leave his second rehab start for Class A St. Lucie after just one inning because of right elbow soreness, which is never a good sign for Tommy John surgery patients.

The right-hander had his first rehab start last week and reported no issues whatsoever after throwing four innings and hitting 97 miles per hour in the radar gun. The Mets wanted him to pitch around five innings yesterday and were counting on him to serve as a rotation reinforcement.

Reports from Port St. Lucie, Fla. yesterday indicated that his velocity dipped from the mid-90s to mid-80s during the inning. Mets’ manager Luis Rojas downplayed the severity of Syndergaard’s setback and said to the team official site that the issue is “more like a discomfort” than “soreness.”

“No one’s overly concerned,” Rojas said. “It was more preventative than anything, taking him out after throwing one inning because of the discomfort he had. He just didn’t feel right.”

The Mets could use Syndergaard amid injury crisis

The last season in which Syndergaard pitched for the Mets in an MLB uniform was in 2019, when he had a 4.28 ERA in 32 starts.

For his career, Syndergaard is 47-30 with a very good 3.31 ERA, numbers that will sure help the Mets if/when he makes it back from the elbow reconstruction surgery.

Soreness after throwing following Tommy John surgery aren’t precisely uncommon, but they are considered setbacks.

“You expect there may be a speed bump in the road when you have a rehab assignment like this,” Rojas said of Syndergaard. “This is one of them.”

The Mets have an injury crisis that has extended to the rotation, as Carlos Carrasco, Syndergaard, Taijuan Walker, and Jordan Yamamoto are all on the injured list. Jacob deGrom came off it to win the game for the Mets on Tuesday.