Mets Minor League Manager Dick Scott Has Surgery for Kidney Cancer, Expected Back This Season

The New York Mets got some genuinely bad news this week, but there’s a real reason to feel hopeful about it.

Dick Scott, the manager of the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse, has been diagnosed with kidney cancer. The team announced Tuesday that Scott underwent surgery and the procedure was successful. He’s now on a leave of absence while he recovers.

The encouraging part? The Mets expect Scott to return before the end of the 2026 season. That’s the timeline Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports reported, and the team hasn’t pushed back on it.

Scott is 64 years old. He played shortstop in the majors for exactly one season, debuting with the Oakland Athletics in 1989 after the Yankees drafted him in the 17th round back in 1981. That was it for his big league playing career, but coaching is where he really made his mark.

He’s been around. Scott has worked in the minor league systems for the Athletics, Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, Astros, Yankees, Marlins, and now the Mets. He’s done just about everything you can do in player development — coach, manager, scout, development director, field coordinator. He took over as Syracuse’s manager in 2023 and has held that job since.

For now, John Nogowski is stepping in as the interim manager at Triple-A. Nogowski is usually the bench coach and assistant hitting coach for the Mets’ top farm club. Not an ideal way to get a promotion, but he’s the guy holding things down while Scott recovers.

The Mets didn’t release a ton of detail beyond the basic diagnosis and the surgery news. No timeline on when Scott might actually be back in the dugout, just that the expectation is sometime before the season ends. Given the circumstances, that’s about as good an update as anyone could hope for.