Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
While speaking with the media prior to Tuesday night’s series-opening matchup with the San Francisco Giants at Citi Field, New York Mets manager Luis Rojas announced that star shortstop Francisco Lindor will officially be activated from the injured list for tonight’s game.
Lindor was placed on the injured list a little over a month ago with a right oblique strain. In the weeks since, he has been progressively ramping up his baseball activities.
Lindor took live batting practice against Noah Syndergaard twice last week, and faced others throughout the week. Due to this, both Lindor and the Mets feel he is ready to return to the team without taking a rehab assignment.
Rojas discussed just how big it will be for this team to get Lindor’s presence alone back in the starting lineup.
“His energy, his bat, his defense. Everything that he brings to help this team win games. It’s been hard to be out there without his presence. I know that a lot of guys are better because he is out there,” the second-year skipper said.
Lindor certainly has not begun his Mets career the way he’d hoped. Over his first 87 games as a Met, Lindor has posted a .228 average, .702 OPS, 11 homers, 11 doubles, and eight stolen bases.
Lindor was starting to turn things around prior to hitting the injured list. In 12 games during the month of July, he had two homers, ten RBI, and a .989 OPS.
In his first game back, he will likely slot into his usual two-spot in the lineup, and at shortstop alongside his best friend, Javier Baez. When asked about finally having the duo together up the middle, Rojas said he expects the energy to be “sky-high.”
“Having the two of them out there in the field and in the lineup is going to be great for us offensively and defensively as a team. I have a good feeling for us for tonight,” Rojas said.
If the Mets have any hopes of getting themselves back into the playoff race, they’ll need Lindor to return to his superstar form and carry this team on his back. They find themselves 6.5 games back in the NL East entering play on Tuesday.
In a corresponding roster move, infielder Travis Blankenhorn has been optioned back to Triple-A Syracuse. Blank has hit just .174 and struck out eight times over 23 at-bats at the big league level this season.
