Jed Lowrie's knee injury 'nothing serious at this point,' Mets say

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Days after Jed Lowrie experienced “a fair bit of pain,” as he described it, the Mets said his left knee injury is not a big deal but offered little other information Friday.

“It’s nothing serious,” manager Mickey Callaway said. “We’re going to progress slowly so when he’s able to come back and play, he’s 100 percent.”

The Mets initially declined to say what official diagnosis resulted from Lowrie’s MRI and doctor visit in New York on Thursday, but they later specified that they’re listing it as “soreness behind his left knee.”

Lowrie was back at the Mets’ spring training facility Friday but was not made available to reporters. The team said it does not know when he will be back in action.

“That’s something we’re just going to have to progress to,” Callaway said. “When we talk about these kinds of things — even if it’s not serious, even if it’s just spring training soreness — we want to make sure we have a good plan for those guys.”

Is this just spring training soreness?

“It’s nothing serious at this point,” Callaway said. “It’s something we have to pay attention to and progress him the right way and be smart about it.”

However long Lowrie is out, his absence highlights the Mets’ confidence in their infield depth. No shortage of others can absorb the extra exhibition game at-bats, and in the regular season — if it came to that — the Mets have several candidates for a would-be extra bench spot.

The Mets’ goal for Lowrie is 40 spring training at-bats. They won’t rush him. Although Lowrie, 34, often was hurt early in his career, he averaged 155 games with the A’s the past two seasons, including last year, when he was an All-Star for the first time.

“We’re going to handle it the right way,” Callaway said, “so he can go play 155 again.”

Notes & quotes: Brandon Nimmo (sore right shoulder) played catch Friday after skipping throwing for several days . . . Nimmo faced Jeurys Familia during live batting practice. Moments after Nimmo squared up a pitch and put it in the right-centerfield gap, much to Familia’s vocalized dismay, Familia broke Nimmo’s bat with a pitch. Call it a draw . . . The Mets played a scrimmage of sorts to end their workout Friday, batters facing a pitching machine (spitting out 90-mph fastballs from the bottom of the mound, Callaway said) and practicing specific runner, out and baserunning situations. “That was all about situational hitting, bunting, defense and baserunning,” Callaway said. “It was really productive.”