Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Good morning, Mets fans!

The Mets were well-represented during All-Star week with Pete Alonso winning the Home Run Derby. Taijuan Walker added to the batch by pitching an inning during the All-Star Game.

The righty, who went 7-3 with a 2.50 ERA in the first half, pitched the sixth inning and gave up a solo home run to Mike Zunino.

Walker joined Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey and R.A. Dickey as Mets pitchers who’ve made appearances in the game since 2010. (Noah Syndergaard, Bartolo Colon and Jeurys Familia have all made it in the last decade, too, but didn’t make appearances.)

Now let’s get into the morning briefing.

Latest Mets News

J.D. Davis is ready to come back to the Mets, according to his rehab performance Tuesday night. He went 4-for-6 with a home run and two doubles in and 18-2 win over the Rochester Red Wings while playing with the Syracuse Mets.

Davis has been on rehab from a hand injury since July 1, during which he’s 9-for-25 with two home runs and four doubles.

Thomas Szapucki, the team’s highest ranked lefty prospect, will undergo season-ending surgery due to an issue with the ulnar nerve in his elbow. (It’s a similar surgery that Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz had while with the Mets.) Szapucki made his MLB debut this season in a blowout loss to Atlanta. He pitched 3.2 innings in relief and allowed six runs, but was throwing to a 4.10 ERA in Triple-A the rest of the season.

Szapucki is the third Top-10 prospect who’s out for the year with injury following Matt Allan and Pete Crow-Armstrong.

Speaking of injuries, Ken Davidoff says that the Mets considered a reunion with Yoenis Cespedes during their injury-riddled months this first half.

Mets owner Steve Cohen is still interested in buying SNY, their regional sports network, according to FOX Business Network. The report says Cohen is still concerned with the network’s massive debt compiled since the Wilpons started the RSN, and he wants the Wilpons to come down from the $1 billion asking price.

The Mets finished the third day of the MLB draft with picks 11 through 20. The finished the draft with 19 college players and just one high schooler–their second-round pick Calvin Ziegler.

The Mets will reportedly be one of the teams at Cole Hamels‘ mid-season workout on Friday, according to Jon Heyman.

Latest MLB News

The American League beat the National League 5-2 in the aforementioned All-Star Game. Vlad Guerrero Jr. won MVP, thanks in part to this tank job.

Rob Manfred said new rules like the seven-inning doubleheaders (of which the Mets have 10 this season with two more scheduled) and the runner on second base may not be used next season, citing collective bargaining negotiations as the place to debate those.

MLB’s Home Run Derby, powered by Pete Alonso and the Shohei Ohtani show, pulled 7.1 million viewers on ESPN and ESPN2, the most since 2017. It helps to have Ohtani plus five or six other top stars out there hitting dingers.

Adding to the Ohtani effect, Sports Business Daily says the Angels have the biggest social media growth (percentage-wise) this season.

MLB.com‘s Brian McTaggary wrote a story about Will Wagner, son of Billy Wagner, getting drafted by the Astros.

A couple of MLB’ers were asked what they thought was harder: hitting a half court shot in basketball, or hitting a 100 m.p.h. fastball. What the hell did you think they’d say?

Latest on MMO

John Flanigan gave Francisco Lindor and Tylor Megill the Players of the Week honors for their performances in the last week before the All-Star break.

And on that note, Matt Musico wrote about Lindor’s offensive resurgence over the last month-and-a-half.

Rich Sparago wrote about the time the lights went out on the Mets in Shea Stadium in 1977 due to a city-wide blackout.

Luke Shannon wrote two pieces for MMO on Tuesday: one about the Kumar Rocker selection for the Mets, and another about some deals the Mets could make with the selling Cubs.

On This Date in Mets History

Happy 54th birthday to Robin Ventura, who was a major part of the Mets’ 2000 World Series team.

Also on this day in 2001, with Ventura on the roster, Bobby Valentine won his 1,000th game as a major-league manager. It was his 419th as a Met manager, and he ended up a near-even 1186-1165 on his career.

It’s also former Met Jack Leathersich‘s 31st birthday today. The flame-throwing lefty threw 11.2 innings for the Mets in 2015, part of which you can see below when he struck out three Braves in an old school Brooklyn Royal Giants jersey.

He had Tommy John surgery later that season, which effectively ended his short career.

Let’s go Mets!