Vic Black entered Saturday nights game as one of the brightest spots in a very bland season. Known for his blazing 95+ mile per hour fastballs, Black’s heat reached just 92.86 on average Saturday night according to FanGraphs. “Something didn’t feel right. It doesn’t hurt, it’s just like an ache and it feels weak, so we’ll see” Black said about his shoulder after the game (Roger Rubin, Daily News).
This is obviously a huge concern to everyone. Black is a huge part of the Mets future bullpen along with Jeurys Familia, Jenrry Mejia and Bobby Parnell. An injury to Black, especially in the shoulder region, could be a big blow to the bullpen in 2015. This is not the way you want Black to talk about his arm after a game: “I felt like I was on the throttle and there was nothing there…”
Terry Collins appeared worried as well. “We have a few concerns there” he said. ““He’s not complaining of the neck. But we’re going to see if those issues have caused (changes). His arm angle has changed.”
The arm angle is apparent. He does appear to be throwing from a slightly different spot, compared to earlier in the year when he was hurling in the high-90s and striking people out all over the place. He has pitched to a 2.60 ERA with almost a strike out per inning.
We’ll all cross our fingers and hope for the best but waiting on good news hasn’t always worked out well for Mets fans of late.
