New York Mets outfielder/designated hitter Jesse Winker will be out six to eight weeks because of a right oblique strain, manager Carlos Mendoza said on Monday.
The Mets placed Winker on the 10-day injured list. In a corresponding move, the team recalled second baseman Brett Baty from Triple-A Syracuse.
Winker, who hits from the left side as part of a designated hitter platoon with righty Starling Marte, was starting in the outfield for the first time this season when he was injured in the third inning on Sunday in Game 1 of a doubleheader against the host St. Louis Cardinals.
He caught Nolan Gorman’s sacrifice fly in shallow left and tried to throw out the runner at home plate.
“I felt it pretty much right when I threw the ball,” Winker, 31, said after the game. “I’m going to wait till those tests and figure it out from there.”
He had an MRI on Sunday in St. Louis, and follow-up tests in New York revealed the strain.
“We didn’t get good news,” Mendoza said. “He’s looking at a Grade 2 oblique strain, and they’re telling us it’s probably six to eight weeks before he’s a player for us at the big-league level. Obliques are tricky, but we’ll figure it out.”
Winker is batting .239 (16-for-67) with one home run and 10 RBIs in 24 games in his first full season with the Mets. New York obtained Winker in a July 28, 2024, trade with the Washington Nationals, then signed him back as a free agent in January.
An All-Star with the Cincinnati Reds in 2021, Winker is a career .262 hitter with 96 homers and 334 RBIs in 779 games over nine years with the Reds (2017-21), Seattle Mariners (2022), Milwaukee Brewers (2023), Nationals (2024) and Mets.
The Reds selected Winker in the first round (49th overall) of the 2012 MLB Draft.
Baty, 25, was batting .204 (11-for-54) with one homer and four RBIs in 19 games this season for the Mets. He is a career .214 hitter with 16 homers and 59 RBIs in 188 games since making his major league debut in 2022.
New York selected Baty 12th overall in the 2019 draft.
In other moves on Monday, the Mets optioned right-handers Blade Tidwell and Austin Warren to Syracuse.
Tidwell, 23, made his major league debut on Sunday, starting Game 1 of the doubleheader at St. Louis and taking the loss in a 6-5 setback. Tidwell allowed six runs, nine hits and three walks with two strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings.
The Mets picked Tidwell in the second round of the 2022 draft.
Warren, 29, has pitched one inning for the Mets this season and has one walk and one strikeout. He was serving as the 27th player on the roster.
