Mets Face Unclear Timeline as Jorge Polanco’s Achilles Recovery Hits Another Snag

The New York Mets are used to waiting on injured players by now. But Jorge Polanco’s situation is starting to feel different. More complicated. Less predictable.

Polanco has been sidelined with an Achilles injury since early June, and the team still can’t say with any certainty when he’ll be back. Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns addressed the uncertainty Tuesday, calling the recovery process a tricky one.

“Yeah, certainly our plan and belief is yes,” Stearns told reporters when asked if Polanco could return before the All-Star break. “This has clearly been a tricky one, and so I think until he’s back on the field at the major league level, it’s going to be tough for any of us to say conclusively exactly what’s going to happen here.”

That’s not exactly the kind of clarity fans want to hear. The All-Star break begins July 13, so the Mets are looking at roughly three more weeks of uncertainty. For a team that has dealt with its share of health setbacks this season, Polanco’s lingering issue adds another layer of frustration.

An Up-and-Down Recovery

Manager Carlos Mendoza gave a more detailed update over the weekend, and it wasn’t exactly encouraging. Polanco is still hitting. He ran the bases Saturday. But there’s a pattern that keeps repeating itself.

“There’s days where he feels good, and then it flares up again, and we have to slow things down,” Mendoza told SNY Mets on Saturday. That kind of stop-start recovery is common with Achilles injuries, but it doesn’t make it any easier for a player trying to get back on track.

Polanco signed with the Mets last offseason hoping to bounce back after a rough 2025 campaign. So far, it hasn’t worked out. In 14 games with New York, he’s hitting just .179 with one home run and two RBIs. Not exactly the production the front office envisioned when they brought him in.

Still, the Mets need infield depth. And when Polanco is healthy, he’s shown he can be a solid contributor. The question is whether that version of him still exists.

For now, the Mets are playing the long game. They’re not going to rush him back. They can’t afford another setback. And until Polanco is actually taking the field at Citi Field, nobody — not Stearns, not Mendoza, not the player himself — really knows when that will be.