Photo by Ed Delany, MMO
New York Mets infielder Jed Lowrie is “not close” to beginning a rehab assignment, as per the team’s manager, Mickey Callaway. After a string of injuries, the 36-year-old has yet to play a major-league game for the team he signed a two-year, $20 million contract with this past offseason.
When asked for an update on Lowrie’s status ahead of Tuesday’s Subway Series finale against the Yankees at Citi Field, Callaway gave a generalized response (video via @Mets), “same thing [for Lowrie]”, adding “he’s just doing baseball activities at this point and not close to going on [a rehab assignment], it doesn’t seem”.
Lowrie was diagnosed with a sprained left knee capsule very early on in Spring Training (placed on 10-day injured list March 28, retroactive to March 25), but began progressing toward a return.
He went 5-for-31 over eight games between Advanced-A St. Lucie and Triple-A Syracuse, and had a 3-for-4 night versus Columbus on May 10, before being shut down on May 11 with what was initially reported as a left hamstring issue.
Callaway was asked about the specifics of Lowrie’s injury by the Mets press corps, and the entire lower left half of his body appears to be an ongoing issue.
“He’s trying to overcome some of those left-side issues that we’ve talked about in the past,” Callaway said, before being prodded for more information — “one specific injury” was the exact question — to not much avail. “No, no. He’s just trying to get those baseball activities up to a point where he feels like he can get into a game.”
When asked about the possibility Lowrie doesn’t play at all this year, Callaway declined to lean in any direction.
“That’s hard to say. There’s so much of the season left, I’m sure that we’ll just have to play that by ear.”
Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen chimed in on the subject, adding “I certainly hope [he plays this season] — the expectation is that”, as per Mike Puma of the New York Post.
Before signing on in Queens, Lowrie enjoyed two healthy, productive seasons with Oakland (.272/.356/.448, 86 doubles, 37 homers, 168 RBIs over 310 games between 2017 and 2018) after being hampered by injuries throughout 2015 and 2016. Lowrie’s got a .262/.335/.414 slash line over his 11-year major-league career.
