Mets closer Edwin Diaz took another significant step toward returning from a torn patellar tendon, hurling a perfect inning Tuesday in an intrasquad minor-league game.
Diaz ended the encouraging outing by striking out fast-rising Mets prospect Jett Williams on a backfield at Clover Park in Port St. Lucie, where the right-handed reliever’s trumpet-heavy entrance song “Narco” blared.
The 1-2-3 frame marked Diaz’s first time facing hitters in a game setting since he suffered the catastrophic knee injury nearly a year ago during the World Baseball Classic.
“I just feel like I need competition. I’m ready,” Diaz said afterward, according to SNY. “I’m throwing my pitches like I want to. I feel 100 percent ready, so I need games, I told them. …Today was really good.”
Diaz threw 14 pitches, with his fastball ranging from 96 to 98 miles per hour, according to Mets manager Carlos Mendoza.
“He came out good, so all positive there,” Mendoza said on the ESPN broadcast of Tuesday’s game between the Mets and Yankees.
Diaz, 29, continues to make progress in his rigorous rehab, having previously thrown live batting practice multiple times this spring, including to top bats Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo on Feb. 23.
Diaz plans to return to Mets after appearing in another minor-league game Friday.
A two-time All-Star, Diaz pitched to a 1.31 ERA, 32 saves and 118 strikeouts in 62.0 innings during a dominant 2022 campaign, which he then parlayed into a five-year, $102 million contract that remains the biggest ever for a reliever in terms of total value.
Diaz didn’t pitch in 2023 after injuring his right knee as he celebrated a Puerto Rico victory in the WBC last March 16.
A healthy Diaz would bolster a Mets bullpen that posted a 4.45 ERA without him last season.
“It’s game time,” Diaz said Tuesday. “After my last live [BP] I told them I wanted to [raise] my level of competition, so I wanted to feel like I was in a real game. I know that was an intraquad game, but I knew I had to make pitches and field my position if they hit it by me or cover first. So, I told them I was ready to be in the games.”
MCNEIL MAKES PROGRESS
Tuesday also brought a positive injury update for Jeff McNeil, whose ailing arm is “feeling a lot better,” Mendoza said.
The Mets recently shut down the utility man with left biceps soreness.
“The downtime the past couple of days helped,” Mendoza told reporters. “We’re going to give it another couple of days before we put him on a hitting progression.”
McNeil was scheduled to go through a workout and participate in defensive drills Tuesday and could play defense in a minor-league game Wednesday.
The 31-year-old won the National League batting title with a .326 average in 2022. That average dipped to .270 during an injury-plagued 2023 season that ended a few days early due to a partially torn UCL in McNeil’s left elbow.
