New York Mets left fielder Tommy Pham suffered a right groin injury during Sunday’s 6-2 loss against the San Diego Padres, forcing him to leave the game in the first inning after fielding Ha-Seong Kim’s lead-off hit.
He was sent back to New York and scheduled and underwent imaging on Monday where scans came back negative. He will be reevaluated on Wednesday.
“The groin is a little tight,” Pham said after the game (h/t SNY). “I had an injury like this in 2018. Very similar. It feels very similar… It could be 10-to-14 days [missed].”
With the injury occurring during the final game before the All-Star break, Pham has the potential luxury of an extended break to limit the amount of time missed if it does adhere to his speculated timeline.
“It’s not how you want to spend the first day of a break,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “Hopefully we can get our arms around it… I don’t want to talk about projected [the possibility of him going on the injured list]. We’ll let the doctors do their job and see where we are.”
The 35-year-old had been one of the Mets’ most productive hitters before the break, slashing .321/.355/.555 (.940 OPS) with six home runs and 25 RBI over his last 40 games. His .277 batting average and .836 OPS this season leads a disappointing Mets team that sits 18.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League East and seven games back of the final NL Wild Card spot.
Mark Canha, who replaced Pham on Sunday, would be slated to see a bump in playing time in left field should the absence meander into the second half of the season.
