Recent NY Mets injury is a bigger blow than many may think

Losing anyone to injury tends to be bad news. Following a recent demotion, the New York Mets placed Brandon Waddell on the IL with a hip impingement. 

Left-handed Mets pitchers and hip problems are too familiar to the fans. It’s what had David Peterson starting the 2024 season late. A.J. Minter dealt with some of the same issues in the past as well.

Waddell is far from the highest profile player on the Mets roster. The team managed to find a way to make him useful. The loss is pretty big for a team that has relied on him in a variety of ways even if it only amounted to 10 and very average overall results.

The Mets won’t see Brandon Waddell for a while and it’s kind of a big deal

An optional pitcher capable of giving you innings, starting games, and he throws left-handed. Who isn’t going to take this? Waddell managed to throw 27 innings for the Mets before the injury with one start and a couple of longer relief appearances. A 4.00 ERA hardly looks noteworthy. Waddell’s overall season results can be described as average at best.

It’s in July when Waddell ran into most of his troubles. A run or more allowed in each of his 4 games, this is a guy who had only one game of allowing a run prior to this. He went into July with a 2.45 ERA. Earning the trust of the Mets a little bit more while also simply being a guy they could count on for multiple innings, Waddell lost a step recently with the home run ball being a big culprit.

The Mets depth chart takes a hit with the Waddell loss. It’s a void more difficult to fill than some may realize.

In minors and on the 40-man roster, they do have Blade Tidwell, Justin Hagenman, and Jonathan Pintaro as potential replacements. All are right-handed and none have pitched well in the majors this season. The Mets have held steadfastly to not calling up prospects like Nolan McLean for a spot start. He shouldn’t even be viewed as a Waddell replacement. He’s someone who should stick around in the majors if added to the roster, not shuttle back and forth like Waddell has.

The 27 innings from Waddell is amazingly not all that far behind the rest of the pack. Max Kranick logged 37 before his season-ending injury. Tidwell is at 15 with Hagenman at 12.1.

New York never fully utilized Waddell as a sixth starter, rather preferring to use an opener and have him piggyback behind others more often than not. It won’t crush the Mets’ playoff chances. However, it’s a hard role to fill midseason. We were dazzled by the way Peterson went from the majors to the minors in 2022, starting and throwing in relief. Waddell, on a smaller scale, was doing the same.