New York Mets closer Edwin Díaz is poised to make his first appearance in a game since suffering a patellar tendon tear during the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
The two-time All-Star is anticipated to be the initial reliever following starter Tylor Megill, with a 20-pitch limit, as the Mets take on Miami in spring training in Port St. Lucie, Florida, on Monday night.
“Excited for the boys, for the whole team, for himself,” manager Carlos Mendoza expressed on Sunday. “The fact that he gets to pitch in a major league game for the first time after, you know, a long year of rehab and all that, I think is important for all of us.”
Díaz sustained his right knee injury while celebrating with teammates after securing Puerto Rico’s 5-2 triumph over the Dominican Republic last March.
The injury marked the beginning of a string of setbacks for the Mets in 2023, prompting the team to offload Cy Young Award winners Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer at the trade deadline, followed by manager Buck Showalter’s dismissal a year after New York clinched a playoff berth as a wild card.
The 29-year-old Díaz earned All-Star honors for the Mets in 2022, notching 32 saves with a 1.31 ERA. Among the 186 outs he recorded that year, 118 were strikeouts.
