Carlos Carrasco moved to 60-day injured list, delaying his Mets debut

Carlos Carrasco may not have suffered a setback in his rehab from a torn right hamstring injury, but he’s on the back end of the 6-8 week range the Mets had initially projected for the pitcher.

Carrasco was transferred to the 60-day injured list on Thursday, backdated to March, making him wait for his Mets debut until May 31 at the earliest. Before his transfer to the 60-day IL, the Mets had repeatedly advertised Carrasco would slot into the rotation in the second week of May.

The club isn’t defining Carrasco’s delay as a setback, though he is ramping up slowly.

According to a source familiar with Carrasco’s rehab schedule, the Mets knew there was a chance he would be on the later end of his mapped-out progression. Once the Mets’ medical staff reassessed Carrasco’s progress as part of a planned checkpoint Thursday, the team concluded he would need the rest of the month to continue his rehab.

“There’s some things we still want to test,” Luis Rojas said. “Pitching, competing, game-speed stuff, everything that’s going to come into play when he’s activated with us.”

As recently as Tuesday, reports on Carrasco’s rehab had been very encouraging. The 34-year-old pitched six innings in a simulated game at Port St. Lucie on Tuesday and he was scheduled to make his next rehab start on Sunday, likely with a minor-league affiliate so he could face competition before joining the Mets. After Sunday’s rehab start, it sounded like Carrasco would be ready to join the Mets during their road trip in Tampa.

Rather than making that Sunday start, Carrasco will not pitch and rest instead. Rojas said that rehab start was scratched due to additional “tests,” but the skipper was vague about what exactly the Mets saw in Carrasco’s hamstring that caused his transfer to the 60-day IL. Either way, the team definitely wants Carrasco to face another uniform in one or two minor-league outings before he joins the big-league rotation.

Carrasco tore his hamstring while running and conditioning in mid-March at Mets camp. He was already working his way back from elbow soreness then — several steps behind his rotation-mates without even having made a Grapefruit League start. He enjoyed a standout 2020 in Cleveland, staying healthy and pitching to a 2.91 ERA over 12 starts and 68 innings in the shortened 60-game season.

DEGROM RETURNING THIS WEEKEND?

Jacob deGrom, scratched from his Tuesday start with right lat inflammation, could make his next start on Sunday at Citi Field against the Diamondbacks. The Mets avoided placing deGrom on the 10-day injured list, hoping instead a few days off from throwing would help reduce the soreness in his right side.

DeGrom was scheduled to meet with Mets doctors on Thursday, then depending on the amount of clearance they gave him, he could play catch later in the day, followed by a side session on Friday.

ROTATION BYTES

The Mets will go with left-hander David Peterson for the series opener against the D-backs on Friday at Citi Field, but they’re not fully committing to Joey Lucchesi for Saturday’s start. Sunday’s starter is also to be announced, with the Mets hoping deGrom will receive the green light to pitch that afternoon.

“Lucchesi is lined up for Saturday,” Mets manager Luis Rojas said. “We still want to leave it TBA right now, but he’s lined up for it. We still haven’t committed that way just in case we want to start someone else and have Lucchesi available out of the pen or something.”

Lucchesi has a 10.13 ERA across four games (three starts) and 10.2 innings for the Mets this season.

HITTING COACHES PLAYING CATCH UP

Following the sudden dismissals of hitting coaches Chili Davis and Tom Slater earlier this week, new hitting coaches Hugh Quattlebaum and Kevin Howard are playing a bit of catch up. The Mets entered Thursday, their 25th game of the season, last in MLB in runs per game.

“I think there has to be a sense of urgency for me and Hugh to put in a little bit of extra work to get caught up,” Howard said Thursday in his first press conference with reporters. “I do think it’s something that we can overcome just by putting in a little bit more time.

“I’m not as familiar with everyone’s swing as I want to be, and that’s going to take me putting in some extra work, watching a lot of video and having conversations with these guys about the journey of their swing and why they’re where they are right now. It’s not going to be an easy thing, but it’s going to be something where we’re going to get there sooner or later.”