Mets' Jared Young released from hospital after collision in Thursday's game, won't play again this season
Mets first baseman Jared Young is injured in the 6th inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field on Thursday. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
Jared Young’s season is over, but the Mets are grateful that it was the worst of the news they received Friday.
Young, who was immobilized and carted off the field after being kneed in the head while attempting to make a play at first base Thursday, was released from the hospital Friday after suffering a concussion, interim manager Andy Green said. He’ll undergo further neurological testing, but the initial results are promising: His CT scan was clean, he can move his extremities and walk under his own power, and he is otherwise in good spirits.
“It’s as good as could be expected or hoped for, given what we saw last night,” Green said. “All the tests that were run got the right kind of results . . . He’s got his sense of humor intact. I texted back and forth with him today. He’s [disappointed] at not being on the active roster and continue playing. He was going to finish strong.”
Still, “everything we’ve heard has been really optimistic from a recovery standpoint [and] getting back on the field” next year, Green said.
Young has a headache and short-term memory loss and doesn’t remember the play: With two outs in the sixth, the Phillies’ Justin Crawford hit a dribbler up the first-base line. Nolan McLean ran toward the bag to grab the ball as Young dived, with the first baseman’s head taking the full brunt of McLean’s knee. Young remained prone and appeared to briefly lose consciousness but was able to give a thumbs-up as he was driven off the field.
Mark Vientos, Brett Baty and Chris Morel will get reps at first base in the final week-plus of the season, with Baty getting the nod Friday against Phillies lefty Tim Mayza and batting eighth. Ronny Mauricio was called up from Triple-A to take Young’s spot on the roster.
In 71 games with Triple-A this year, Mauricio batted .261 with 18 homers, 57 RBIs and 12 stolen bases; Green said he doesn't “know how many consistent at bats [Mauricio is] going to get in the next week and a half,” given that he doesn’t play first base. But “we’ll get him out there for sure at some point in time.”
Though the Young update was encouraging, it still was a disappointing end to a very promising season. He nearly didn’t make the roster out of spring training but earned a spot after Mike Tauchman tore his left meniscus. Young took on consistent playing time as Jorge Polanco battled season-long injuries and Vientos underperformed. Young had a .266/.330/.429 slash line with 17 doubles, nine homers and 39 RBIs in 103 games.
Now in his ninth professional season, Young fought his way through the minors and played two years in Korea before joining the Mets in 2025. Earlier this season, he credited that time in the KBO with keying his continued improvement.
“I think anywhere you go, you can learn from different people and the game is played a little bit different,” he told Newsday then, adding that he saw a lot of off-speed pitches and that the smaller, stickier ball led to more spin. “It led me to being a more well-rounded player.”
Green also recalled being impressed during their days together with the Cubs (Green served as bench coach).
“We sent him down on the last day of the minor-league season in Chicago” in 2022, he recalled. “There was one more minor-league game the next day and we said, ‘Don’t worry about it. You can go on home.’ This guy likes to play so much that he said, ‘Can I drive to Iowa and play?’
"I’ve never had a player do that in that situation. Most people are like, ‘I’m leaving the big leagues [so] let’s call the season. Let’s move on. It’s good enough.’ And he texted the Triple-A manager and said I’m coming, I want to play, can you put me in the lineup? He hit a walk-off home run that day to end the minor-league season. It’s just indicative of the type of person he is.”
Mets beat Phillies. A three-run first inning helped the Mets beat the Phillies, 6-3, on Friday night at Citi Field, snapping a five-game losing streak. A.J. Ewing hit a two-run single off opener Tim Mayza and Juan Soto’s three-run homer in the sixth gave the Mets a 6-2 lead. Zac Thornton allowed two runs, five hits and a walk with four strikeouts in six innings.
“He seemed to have traffic almost every inning — not a ton of traffic — but always seemed to execute the big pitch when he needed to,” Green said. “He’s pitched with edge and intent to prove himself every time out. He’ll have to maintain that. There’s never a point in time where he can step on the mound and just cruise. That’s not the type of stuff he has.”
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.
