Buck Showalter seems encouraged by Mets' reaction to injuries

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Buck Showalter’s office in the visiting clubhouse at Angels Stadium stares directly into the trainers’ room, a shabbily closed blue curtain the only thing blocking the manager from seeing the legion of walking wounded the Mets have being iced and stretched and patched back together on long, flat surfaces that look like they belong in a triage ward.

There are the obvious guys, of course: Pete Alonso, with the hand that the Mets feared was broken just four days ago, and Starling Marte, nursing a tight quad.

But there are the quieter injuries, too, the casualties of a season getting gritty. Francisco Lindor is still playing with a fractured right middle finger, an appendage he keeps taped up while he handles grounders and flips to bases. Brandon Nimmo struggled hitting with a sprained wrist, though that’s starting to feel better, he said, and his three RBIs Friday were a testament to that. Jeff McNeil’s knee made a too-intimate acquaintance with a wall a little more than two weeks ago, though it’s not clear if he’s still feeling the effects.

“I’ll probably walk in here and Darth Vader will walk in and drop something new on me,” Showalter said. “I’m glad there’s a curtain up there in my office, for a lot of reasons … You know, the last time you’re 100% was when you get out of the car at spring training. It’s just different forms of where you are physically.”

But though none of this is unexpected, it has been valuable in showcasing one of this team’s strengths. Nimmo played through the pain, he said, because he knew the Mets needed his glove in centerfield. Alonso and Marte were both intent on skirting the injured list. Lindor has simply smiled through it. 

And when guys do need a rest, there's been no shortage of willing substitutes. J.D. Davis, who hadn’t played first base since 2018, worked for a week straight to slot into the role. Trevor Williams stepped up and pitched when Tylor Megill was still recuperating. McNeil, a natural infielder who hadn’t played right since 2020, moved there on Friday in Marte's absence. And Eduardo Escobar and Luis Guillorme basically shrug and go wherever they’re asked, Showalter said.

“We’ve got to have some versatility,” Showalter said. “Obviously with G [Guillorme], with Escobar who can play second, short and leftfield and play first base [we have that]. I think the big part of that, too, is that they don’t have the ego. We’re playing a game that’s driving guys to be individuals so much that when you can find guys who look at things from a team concept first, you have a chance to have some success. We have a lot of those guys … They’re like, ‘Where am I playing? OK, let’s go.’ Because they know that’s where the team needs them.”

It was a sentiment Nimmo echoed. Before Friday’s 2-for-4, three-RBI night, he was hitting .152 since his wrist injury on May 27. And it was definitely because he was hurt, he said, but he also knew he was needed. The Mets lost outfield depth when Travis Jankowski went down with a broken hand, and though they recently called up Khalil Lee, it did leave some lingering questions in the area.

“When you’re not healthy, when you’re not able to do everything at 100%, or even 95 — you know, this is a hard game,” Nimmo said. “But I felt like I had a bigger job of being the centerfielder. That’s a big job. I need to be there. I need to help carry that load. From my standpoint, I was even thinking if I can just be available and not have someone take that over. Because, when we go and look at the yardage we cover every night, centerfield covers a lot. The last thing we need is guys getting injured. I felt like at least I could field that position well while I tried to get back.”

And that extends to guys such as Alonso and Lindor, Showalter said. It’s not just that Alonso is playing through discomfort, it’s also that he’s getting back into the batter’s box after being drilled seven times this year.

As for Lindor, Showalter said: “I don’t think people are seeing how physically and mentally tough he is. He’s basically playing out there with a semi-fracture, playing shortstop at the major-league level and doing it well. It doesn’t go unnoticed. I see all the stuff going on behind the scenes.”

He sure does. It just so happens that in Anaheim, he’s got a front-row seat.

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

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.