The New York Mets announced that they are putting their rookie left-handed starter, David Peterson, on the 10-day injured list because of shoulder fatigue.
“It started earlier today,” Mets manager Luis Rojas said. “When he woke up, he felt a little weird with his shoulder and he contacted our trainer.”
The 24-year-old southpaw was a pleasant early surprise for a Mets team that has struggled to find its groove in 2020. In four starts, he possessed a 3-1 record with a 2.91 ERA and a WHIP of 1.154.
“We just went to that road to be careful with him,” Rojas said. “The immediate plans to do with him or the day-to-day, that’s something we can reassess.”
Corey Oswalt slotted in Peterson’s spot for his Tuesday start.
Peterson’s loss further sinks the Mets’ rotation into the throes of chaos during a season in which it has been hammered by a combination of bad luck and bad timing.
Peterson is the fourth Mets starter that will miss significant time during the shortened 2020 season, following Noah Syndergaard (Tommy John surgery), Marcus Stroman (2020 opt-out), and Michael Wacha (shoulder inflammation).
With such a high turnover of starting pitchers, the Mets are already scraping the bottom of the barrel of their depth chart — which wasn’t necessarily a strength in the first place.
Walker Lockett was forced to make a spot start last week when Jacob deGrom was scratched due to neck tightness while the club is currently stretching reliever Robert Gsellman out to be their fifth starter.
The loss of Peterson might prompt Rojas to do the one thing he’s been trying to avoid all season: converting Seth Lugo back to a starter.
Lugo has been one of the Mets’ best relievers over the past two seasons, but his starting experience makes him a prime candidate to help stabilize the shaky rotation.
“Seth is very versatile. He has the ability to give us multiple innings, he’s closed games for us, he’s been very important to our bullpen,” Rojas said. “Seth can do different things. … We’re not committed with him yet to do something as an opener, something as a starter yet, but that’s something that — you never know.”
