Luis Robert Jr. has been out since late April with a back injury. The Mets have been without their center fielder for over two months now. But Tuesday night in Syracuse, he finally stepped back onto the field for Triple-A and did something that had to make the front office breathe a little easier.
His first at-bat? A slow roller to shortstop. Robert turned on the jets, beat the throw, and wound up with an infield single. (SNY had the clip up almost immediately.) For a guy who hadn’t seen live pitching in a game setting since April 26, that kind of burst is a good sign.
Speed was never the question. Health was.
Before the injury, Robert was hitting .224 with two homers and eight RBIs in 24 games. Not great. The Mets traded for him expecting the guy who hit .259 with 102 homers and 102 steals over six years in Chicago. The guy who made an All-Star team in 2023. They haven’t gotten that version yet.
But Tuesday’s infield single was more about the legs than the bat. Back injuries can linger. They can sap explosiveness. Seeing Robert beat out a routine grounder — that’s a real data point. The team will take it.
The Mets aren’t rushing him. They can’t afford to.
New York is 36-50 and 14.5 games back in the NL East. This season is basically over. So there’s no reason to push Robert back before he’s ready. He’ll need a proper rehab assignment — probably a couple weeks, maybe more — before the Mets activate him. The team hasn’t put a firm timeline on it, but late July feels realistic if everything holds.
One encouraging start doesn’t change the big picture. But for a team that’s been gutted by injuries all year, a little good news goes a long way. Robert still has to prove he can handle a full defensive workload and make consistent contact. If he does, he gives the Mets at least one reason to pay attention in the second half.
Whether he can stay on the field is the part nobody knows yet. But he’s back on it. That’s a start.
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