It’s official, the New York Mets will be without left-handed pitcher and their biggest bullpen acquisition of the winter, A.J. Minter, for the rest of this season and perhaps into next year.
It was announced that the 31-year-old is set for surgery to repair his torn latissimus dorsi muscle (“lat”). The surgery No. 33 needs is rare; his lat was torn off the bone on April 26 against the Washington Nationals. Minter spoke for the first time Friday since making the decision to undergo surgery next week and said the procedure comes with a 10-12 month rehab process.
“So I tore my lat off the bone,” Minter said on May 9. “From what I’ve learned is they’re going to go in, reattach it, and put some anchors in. Basically, just attach that tendon to the bone and let it heal. It’s going to be about a 10 to 12-month rehab process, and hopefully, the goal is to come back in and have somewhat of a normal spring training, hopefully.
“I think probably since it’s an arm injury, it’s probably going to be a little bit more cautious in spring training; [it’s] probably going to be a bit more of a slower process if I had to guess.”
All Eyes on a Healthy 2026 for A.J. Minter
If all goes well, the Texas A&M alum could have a “normal-ish” spring training and then not be far off when the regular season begins. Minter recently signed a two-year, $22 million deal with the Mets in the offseason that contains an opt-out after this year.
In a similar fashion, his season ended with Atlanta last year with hip surgery in August, which is probably why he called his latest injury extremely agitating.
“It’s super frustrating, because I was starting to feel so good,’’ said Minter, who hadn’t given up a run in his previous 12 appearances and struck out 13 batters in 10 innings during that stretch.
“My velocity was increasing at a pretty rapid rate, that maybe had something to do with it. There’s so many scenarios. I wish it wouldn’t have happened. The frustrating thing is, I was feeling so good and excited to help this team… But now my thought process is to come back, get my body in the best shape possible, and help the team next year.”
In Minter’s first month with the team, he registered a sharp 1.64 ERA with 14 strikeouts across 11 innings. He also posted one of the game’s top strikeout rates (34.8%).
Fellow Mets lefty Danny Young‘s Tommy John surgery leaves the New York Mets with just one left-handed pitcher available in their bullpen — Genesis Cabrera.