New York Mets manager Luis Rojas announced on Sunday that pitcher Noah Syndergaard’s second scheduled rehab start with the club’s Class-A minor-league affiliate in Brooklyn was shut down due to a “non-baseball injury” that was suffered.
Rojas would not divulge the specifics of the injury, nor would he say whether or not it had anything to do with COVID — though he mentioned that the 28-year-old right-hander is vaccinated. However, multiple reports following Rojas’ availability confirmed that Syndergaard does indeed have COVID.
There have not been any discussions whether or not this could potentially end Syndergaard’s hopes of appearing on the mound in the majors at all this season, as Rojas added that his next potential rehab start is “TBD.”
Syndergaard has not appeared for the Mets at all this season as he continues to work his way back from Tommy John surgery that he underwent last year. He was initially slated for a return in June, but his minor-league rehab stint was abandoned after elbow issues cropped back up.
Last week, acting general manager Zack Scott said there was a possibility that Syndergaard would return as a reliever rather than a starter based on how much time is left in the season and how much time it normally takes a starter who has been sidelined for an extended period of time to stretch out toward a normal workload.
“I think just with where the calendar is, if you decide to bring a guy back with more length, it’s just going to lengthen the amount of time it takes to get him back in the game,” Scott said. “We can always change course. It doesn’t affect the progression… We always learn new things about who’s healthy on the major-league roster and where we’re at and we’ll figure out where the best fit is when we look at how he’s progressing.”
