Mets manager Luis Rojas gave updates on Javier Baez and Brandon Nimmo following Monday’s loss to the Miami Marlins.
Baez stumbled to first base trying to beat out a ground ball, and appeared to look uncomfortable. He talked to Rojas and trainers in the dugout before returning to the field for the rest of the game.
“Not the ankle, it’s like the heel area, I think he had a contusion there just hitting it back, July 20-something, he specifically remembers the day and everything,” Rojas said. “He’s been dealing with it but he can play through it. And as you guys saw later in the game, when he beat that infield hit, and scored on a wild pitch, he just basically sometimes hits it.
“On that particular play, he was going to try to dive, try to go head first, and then he changed his mind, kind of like hyperextended his leg. That step up was sore by the heel basically. He just felt it again. He told us immediately that he was good. It’s something that’s happened to him. Something that he feels it and it goes away and he can play with it.”
Brandon Nimmo was a late scratch to the starting lineup on Monday night, as Rojas also gave an update to his status. Nimmo felt a pinch in his hamstring during Friday’ game and was out Saturday and didn’t start on Sunday.
“He was doing some tests out on the field just to see if we could get him in the starting lineup,” Rojas said. “We felt that he could after running through some tests, but he did further tests and performance staff wasn’t comfortable yet for him to start the game. That’s why it happened so late.
“You guys saw him, he was in center field without a glove, he was taking reads off the bat and just trying to work on his running form, on his breaks, pushing off and all that. He said he was fine, at that point performance just weren’t secure with him, they wanted to keep him off the bench. There’s a good chance he starts tomorrow, they feel a lot better after tonight.”
The offense was once again inconsistent on Monday night, despite a solo home run from Pete Alonso. The Mets have now lost four of their last five games, and hold just 2.5 game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East standings.
“I think we’ve gotten away from our team and our organization approach,” Rojas said. “We haven’t been aggressive consistently. When I say aggressively, it’s just taking A-swings. I think we’ve been in-between a lot. Chasing is going to happen, we are gonna chase. I know we’ve talked about that, about our chase percentage at one point because it was pretty high.
“That’s going to happen, and we gotta stay aggressive. Hitting is an aggressive approach, all the time it is. We’re going to get better just by being aggressive, because we are going to lay off pitches that we know we won’t be able to do damage. The guys are going to feel it with their bodies, with their eyes. They’re just going to have a feel and they’re just going to stop and not swing. I think we’ve been in-between, personally. That’s why the power numbers haven’t jumped, and the power numbers are going to get us to score runs.”
Alonso talked about the team’s losing streak and struggles since the All-Star break.
“It’s baseball,” Alonso said. “Yes we’re in first place, but every team kind of goes through their ups and downs in the year. I think for us right now, it’s just a little rut. I don’t think this any long-term concern. Right now it’s just a tough go. We’ve faced a lot of quality opponents and we haven’t necessarily come out on top as much as we’d like to, but again that’s baseball.”