Lin-door’d! Francisco out of lineup after slamming finger
LOS ANGELES – Thumbs? That was so last year. This season, Francisco Lindor’s middle finger is making headlines. Lindor was out of the Mets lineup for their series opener against the Dodgers on Thursday after an accident in his hotel room.
“After I finished my massage I went to my room,” the shortstop explained at Chavez Ravine. “I have double doors. I went to close one, I didn’t think the other one was going to close, and they closed at the same time. Next thing you know, I got a swollen finger.”
Lindor sported a bloated, black and blue middle finger on his right hand.
“I ran around the room for like three minutes,” Lindor recalled. “I didn’t want to look at it, and when I finally looked at it, I was like OK. I felt like I had my heart in that one finger.”
The Mets and Lindor are hopeful that he will be back in the lineup and playing shortstop on Friday against Dodgers left-hander Tyler Anderson (6-0, 2.90 ERA). On Thursday, Lindor said the injury was impacting throwing more than hitting, because he couldn’t feel sensation in his swollen middle finger, which led to a poor grip on the baseball. He said he was 12 years old the last time he pinched his finger.
Lindor had played in all 52 Mets games leading up to the series opener here, which leads the major leagues. It was possible, Mets manager Buck Showalter said, that the shortstop would be available to pinch-hit on Thursday, which would keep his streak alive. But Lindor wasn’t too concerned about that.
“It wasn’t a goal of mine to play 162 [games],” he said. “I want to be out there every day; do whatever it takes to help the team. But I never played 162, and I wasn’t saying I need to play 162. I want to play the most games possible.
“Sucks that I’m not out there with the boys. But God has a plan, and I gotta follow it.”
Lindor, who was named the National League’s Player of the Week for May 23-29, entered Thursday tied for fifth in the majors and ranked third in the NL with 37 runs scored. He was also tied for third in MLB with 43 RBI, including 20 of those RBI coming in his last 10 games. Lindor is hitting .600 (9-for15) with runners in scoring position during his career-high 10-game RBI streak.
JAKE STAYS IN NEW YORK
In a change of publicly stated plans, Jacob deGrom is continuing his rehab back in New York rather than with the Mets on their tour of Southern California.
DeGrom (right scapula stress reaction) did not join the Amazin’s for their 10-game, 11-day road trip against the Dodgers, Padres and Angels that began on Thursday. On May 27, Mets manager Buck Showalter had said definitively that deGrom was going to travel with the team. A week later, the skipper indicated deGrom will hang back in New York for the entirety of their trip.
“He’s in New York,” Showalter said Thursday at Dodger Stadium. “Just felt like it was better that he worked there. They’re equipped to handle what his needs are. … Obviously Jake is a priority for those guys back there. He’ll stay back and get his work done there for the time being.”
Earlier last month, Mets pitching coach Jeremy Hefner said he would like to be around deGrom, supervising him, as his rehab ramped up to mound-work and bullpens. But on Thursday, Showalter indicated the Mets staff already has enough on its plate managing a 26-man roster, plus a three-man taxi squad, during their long west coast trip.
REHABBING METS
Tylor Megill (right biceps tendinitis) is working his way back to the rotation after throwing a live batting practice on Tuesday at Citi Field. He is scheduled for a normal work day on Friday, after which the Mets are looking forward to learning how he’s feeling following the added workload and returning to a routine. If Megill’s arm feels good on Saturday, he will receive the green light for a rehab start, likely with nearby High-A Brooklyn.
Max Scherzer (moderate-high grade oblique strain) is also progressing with his rehab as expected, according to Showalter. Though the skipper refrained from going into detail on his exact rehab schedule, which is taking place in Florida,
James McCann (left hamate surgery) is not hitting yet, but he is scheduled to begin doing so in the coming days. McCann got the stitches out of his hand earlier this week.
If the name of the game is getting on base, and the best hitters are the ones who get on base most frequently, then Luis Guillorme is currently the best hitter in the National League.
The Mets’ infielder, who’s been used sparingly for his entire fiveyear career, has the highest on-base percentage of any NL player that’s made at least 100 plate appearances. He’s ahead of potential Hall of Famers Paul Goldschmidt and Manny Machado, and he’s not just edging them out either. Guillorme heads into the Mets’ grueling West Coast road trip with a .455 on-base percentage. Goldschmidt is at .429 with Machado at .422.
Both Goldschmidt and Machado have made double the plate appearances that Guillorme has, but that’s not Guillorme’s fault. All a hitter can do is maximize the at-bats they’re given, which is what
Guillorme did for the entire month of May. He racked up a preposterous .414/.477/.517 slash line in 66 May plate appearances. The batting average and on-base percentage led Major League Baseball during that month, and it was the tenth-highest batting average any Met has ever had in a single month. That scorched earth stretch forced himself into the lineup, as the bearded Venezuelan has started 12 of the Mets’ last 20 games and each of the last five.
Buck Showalter has really had no choice but to play Guillorme. A career .262 hitter coming into the year, Guillorme has started the year hitting .360. The 27-year-old has always been an obsessively patient hitter, and now that the hits are starting to drop too, seemingly no pitcher in the league can keep him off the base paths. For the third straight season, Guillorme is taking a walk in over 14% of his plate appearances.
Guillorme’s overall swing