5 recent NY Mets spring training injuries that derailed a player’s season

4) Carlos Carrasco

Very similar to Quintana, Carlos Carrasco’s 2021 season began on a delay. The other half of the biggest Mets trade since Steve Cohen took over, expectations were quite high for Carrasco to be the steady, reliable presence on the roster. Not in 2021.

A torn hamstring while running sprints was our introduction to Carrasco. He arrived just as Jacob deGrom went down with an injury of his own. Unfortunately, the team was spiraling in the wrong direction and Carrasco’s performance made it worse.

At 1-5 with a 6.04 ERA in a dozen starts, Carrasco was a menace in the rotation in the worst way. He was hit hard and often. A home run rate of 5.1% gave him little chance at recovering. The odd thing is the .272 batting average against and .325 OBP were an almost exact match for him in 2022 when he won 15 games for the Mets. The average was the same with the OBP up just one point. The difference was the .502 slugging percentage against him in 2021 versus .425 in 2022.

Gopher balls, meatballs, watermelons served up on a silver platter. Call them whatever you prefer. Carrasco was in spring training mode for the length of his 2021 regular season.