Morning Briefing: Kumar Rocker to Undergo Tommy John Surgery

Photo Credit: Perfect Game

Good morning, Mets fans!

Former Mets first-round pick and current Texas Rangers prospect Kumar Rocker is going to have Tommy John surgery later this week, according to Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News, after suffering an ‘acute’ injury.

Rocker, who was last pitching in Single-A ball in Hickory, suffered the elbow injury resulting in the surgery on May 11. Texas Rangers General Manager Chris Young said Rocker is expected to be out until the second half of 2024.

The Mets could not get a deal with Rocker after selecting him 10th overall in 2021 when medical reports came back iffy. Rocker had shoulder surgery later that year that stemmed from a high school football injury, according to Rocker’s agent Scott Boras. The following year, the Rangers selected Rocker with the third overall pick.

Latest Mets News

While the Mets came home after splitting a series with the Washington Nationals, the last place team in the NL East, the Mets came home to play the AL East leading Tampa Bay Rays. With Justin Verlander making his first Citi Field start as a member of the Mets, he gave up six runs in five innings of work that lead to the Mets 8-5 loss to open the series. The Mets’ home run drought did end off the bats of Brett Baty, Pete Alonso and Eduardo Escobar.

Mets manager Buck Showalter gave updates to injured Mets José Quintana and Omar Narváez. Quintana will have a “huge” CT scan on Friday that will determine if the pitcher can ramp up activity that would get him on the mound faster. Narvaez is expected to be playing rehab games by next week.

Buck Showalter says that José Quintana has a "huge" CT scan on Friday that could allow him to be cleared to ramp up activity.

Omar Narváez is expected to be playing in rehab games next week. pic.twitter.com/iilzMiRklI

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 16, 2023

The Mets have released minor leaguers Brad Malm and Justin Guerrera, according to MetsMinors.net.

Latest MLB News

Late Monday night in Houston, Chicago Cubs outfielder Cody Bellinger exited the game following this catch in right-center. Cubs manager David Ross said team doctors looked at Bellinger and said “nothing major” and all the checks “came back okay.” Bellinger was not in the lineup for Tuesday’s loss to the Astros.

The New York Yankees have spoken to Major League Baseball about the accusations stemming from the Toronto Blue Jays TV commentators, according to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. The team’s understanding is that there will be no investigation as to what Aaron Judge was looking at during Monday night’s at-bat. “Nothing that went on last night was against the rules,” Aaron Boone said.

Judge said that he has some “choice words about” about the Blue Jays broadcasters insinuating that he was cheating. He declined to share them. “I’m not happy about it, but people can say what they want. I’ve still got a game to play. I’ve got things to do.”

The Tigers have claimed Seth Elledge off waivers from the Mets and optioned him to Triple-A Toledo. To make room for Elledge on the 40-man roster, Beau Brieske has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.