ATLANTA — The Mets placed right-hander Frankie Montas on the 15-day IL on Saturday with a UCL injury in his right elbow. In a corresponding move, the club recalled right-hander Huascar Brazobán from Triple-A Syracuse.
Montas underwent an MRI on Friday after feeling some lower biceps soreness, with the results of the test revealing the injury. Manager Carlos Mendoza said Montas’ season is over.
“We got him hot [during] that last game in D.C, and he obviously didn’t come in to pitch,” Mendoza said. “[On Friday] he came in and expressed some soreness in the lower biceps area. He went out and played catch and we decided to send him for an MRI that shows the UCL injury.”
Mendoza didn’t specify whether it was a tear or a sprain, noting that he and Montas will consult with doctors before taking the next steps.
“He’s got a pretty significant injury there,” Mendoza said. “We [have] multiple doctors looking at it to see what we’re [dealing with]. The first MRI read showed he’s got a pretty good injury there. [Tommy John surgery] is possible.”
Such continues a tumultuous season for Montas, who has pitched to a 6.28 ERA in nine games (seven starts). The news comes less than two weeks after the Mets moved Montas to the bullpen, with the veteran losing his rotation spot to rookie Nolan McLean.
The Mets inked Montas to a two-year, $34 million deal in the offseason with the hopes of stabilizing their rotation. But the 32-year-old suffered a high-grade right lat strain in Spring Training, delaying his season debut by more than three months.
“It’s hard for him,” Mendoza said. “He was pretty devastated yesterday when he found out, and rightfully so. It’s been a hard year for him since Spring Training when he went down and put a lot of time and rehab in. He came back and didn’t have the results he wanted, [or] we wanted. For him to have a hard time recovering after the last two outings, it just sucks for him.”
Even when healthy, Montas didn’t provide the rotation boost that the Mets had surely hoped for, contributing to the team’s stunning rotation struggles. Since June 13, New York’s starting pitchers have combined for a 5.06 ERA, the third-worst mark in the Majors.
On Aug. 12, the Mets announced that they were moving Montas out of the rotation, shortly after he gave up three runs (one earned) in three relief innings against the Brewers. But his time in the bullpen proved short-lived, too: He made just one more appearance on Aug. 15 against the Mariners. Mendoza suggested that the injury may have affected Montas’ recent performances.
“The [injury] probably has something to do with the past [outings],” Mendoza said. “The [velocity] was there, but maybe having an injury affected him with his secondary pitches. He didn’t feel anything. It was just more soreness the last couple of times — the last outing as a starter and then we put him in the bullpen. For him to come in the next day after he didn’t get in the game, for him it was like ‘Something’s off.’ We didn’t think anything of it because it was the biceps area.”
Brazobán emerged as an early-season cog in the Mets’ bullpen before command issues resurfaced. He’s pitched to a 3.83 ERA in 44 games across 51 2/3 innings with the Mets this season, and he posted a 6.75 ERA in seven games with Triple-A Syracuse following his demotion on July 29.
“Part of the plan when we sent him down to Triple-A was for him to go multiple innings,” Mendoza said. “We built him up to almost 40 pitches. We feel comfortable with him if we need to use him in [a lengthy] role.”
