New York Mets closer Edwin Diaz suffered a right knee injury while celebrating Puerto Rico’s 5-2 victory over the Dominican Republic on Wednesday night at loanDepot Park in Miami.
Diaz closed out the win by striking out Teoscar Hernandez and was met by a group of teammates, who began jumping up and down. The celebration was short-lived, though, as seconds later the group dissipated and began waving for a team trainer to check on the star right-hander, who was down on the ground.
He was helped off the field and put into a wheelchair where the Mets announced that it was indeed a right-knee injury and that he’ll undergo imaging on Thursday.
Given how distraught his Puerto Rican teammates were, this certainly appears as though this is a serious injury for Diaz, who was MLB’s best closer in 2022 with 32 saves, a 1.31 ERA, and 118 strikeouts against 235 batters faced — more than half of his opponents.
There are just two weeks until the start of the 2023 MLB season and the Mets could now be scrambling to re-assign roles for the back end of their rotation.
