HARMED FORCES
Mets hoping injuries for ailing duo not serious
THE Mets need a shot in the arm. Not more shots to the arms.
A season of compounding injuries to pitchers has not been quarantined to the major league level. As the big-league aces drop, the starting pitching hopes in the minors have run into similar setbacks. Halfway through the season, the minor-league struggles may have reached their apex.
Two of the Mets’ best pitching prospects, Thomas Szapucki and Jordan Humphreys, have gone down in the past few weeks, both placed on the disabled list with soreness to the pitching elbow, which the Mets said they are examining.
“Going to miss a couple starts,” Mets director of minor league operations Ian Levin said over the phone. “We’re hoping it’s nothing more serious than that.”
Szapucki, 21, was the breakout pitcher of the Mets’ organization last year, when the 2015 fifth-round pick pitched to a 1.38 ERA in 52 innings, in which he struck out 86 between Rookie League and Low-A.
The southpaw, who can touch the high 90s, started this season late because of a shoulder impingement, then lasted six mostly solid starts with Low-A Columbia before leaving on July 6 after throwing just 13 pitches.
Humphreys, 21, in some ways is this year’s Szapucki. The 2015 18th-round pick had impressed earlier, but the right-hander burst onto the scene with Low-A Columbia, where he went 10-1 with a 1.42 ERA, along with striking out 80 in 69 2/3 innings.
“His overall feel for pitching and his fastball command,” Levin said recently about what impressed him most about Humphreys. “Both are outstanding with his age, with his level of experience.”
Humphreys was promoted to Single-A St. Lucie in late June, but lasted just two starts before being shut down.
He hasn’t pitched since June 30, when he threw seven innings of no-run ball.
Humphreys and Szapucki both were drafted out of high schools in Florida, and both were trying to lengthen their arms. Humphreys has thrown 80 2/3 innings this season, surpassing what he threw all of last year.
Szapucki, whom MLB.com ranks as the team’s eighth-best prospect, has thrown 29 innings this year after tossing 52 last year.
There are still projectable and impressive pitchers of the future milling about in the system, if not the major league-ready that the Mets may have preferred. Merandy Gonzalez, a 21-year-old righthander from the Dominican Republic, has been filthy both at Low- and High-A this year, riding a big curveball and mid-90s fastball to a 10-2 ledger and 1.44 ERA in 14 starts.
“He’s figured out to utilize his stuff,” Levin said of the pitcher who has been with the organization since 2013.
Marcos Molina, whom MLB.com has tabbed as the team’s 11th-best youngster, has resurfaced this season after 2015 Tommy John surgery.
He dominated High-A hitters before a promotion to Double-A, where he’s had some difficulties, going 0-5 with a 4.94 ERA.
“He has really good stuff,” Levin said. “This year is just about getting himself back on track, and he’s doing that.”
And the Mets are trying to, too. As they sit and wait, awaiting word on how serious the injuries to Humphreys and Szapucki are, it feels as if everything, this side of Amed Rosario, that could have gone wrong has gone wrong. At all levels.