{"id":215570,"date":"2026-04-30T16:15:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T16:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/215570\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T16:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T16:15:09","slug":"new-york-mets-center-fielder-luis-robert-jr-sent-for-mri-on-ailing-back-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/215570\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Mets center fielder Luis Robert Jr. sent for MRI on ailing back"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 Mets<\/a> center fielder Luis Robert<\/a> Jr. remained out of the lineup against Washington and was sent for imaging, the latest issue for a New York team already in an early hole this season.<\/p>\n

Robert missed his third straight game with tightness in his lower back and could land on the injured list.<\/p>\n

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\u201cDidn\u2019t improve much after treatment yesterday, so he\u2019s getting an MRI right now to see what we\u2019re dealing with,\u201d manager Carlos Mendoza said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to wait and see what the MRI says and what\u2019s the plan of attack, if we need to put him on the IL or continue to be day-to-day. But, that\u2019s why we\u2019re taking a look at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Acquired from the Chicago White Sox<\/a> in a January trade, the oft-injured Robert got off to a strong start but has cooled off dramatically. He is 5 for 38 (.132) over his last 10 games dating to April 13 after batting .298 with 12 walks and an .866 OPS through his first 14 games.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old slugger from Cuba is hitting .224 overall with two homers, eight RBIs and a .656 OPS.<\/p>\n

Tyrone Taylor<\/a> is set to start in center field, with MJ Melendez<\/a> in left and rookie Carson Benge in right. Left fielder Juan Soto<\/a>, hampered by forearm discomfort in his left (throwing) arm, was the designated hitter for the seventh consecutive game since returning from a right calf strain.<\/p>\n

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Robert, an All-Star in 2023, was limited to 210 games over the past two seasons with the White Sox due to hip and hamstring injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time you send someone for an MRI, you\u2019re always concerned. But given the history of Luis the past couple of years with injuries, and us trying to get to know the player, the personality, that\u2019s what we\u2019ve got right now,\u201d Mendoza said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut again, we\u2019ve got to wait. We\u2019re doing everything in our power to kind of keep him on the field, and hopefully this is just a minor thing that we\u2019re dealing with for a couple of days and he\u2019s back out there soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Injuries are piling up for the disappointing Mets, who began the day 10-19 after beating the Nationals 8-0 in the series opener only for their third victory in 18 games.<\/p>\n

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Star shortstop Francisco Lindor<\/a> strained his left calf \u2014 on the same night Soto returned \u2014 and will be sidelined for a while. Lindor is wearing a protective boot and won\u2019t be reexamined until mid-May.<\/p>\n

First baseman Jorge Polanco<\/a> is on the 10-day injured list with a bruised right wrist \u2014 although he\u2019s also dealing with bursitis in his left heel, which has bothered him since very early in the season.<\/p>\n

Struggling right-hander Kodai Senga<\/a> (0-4, 9.00 ERA) went on the 15-day injured list with lumbar spine inflammation. He is out indefinitely.<\/p>\n

Left-handed reliever A.J. Minter<\/a> remains on target to return in early May from left lat surgery that cut short his 2025 season. He threw a bullpen at Citi Field and is scheduled to make his next minor league rehab appearances.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019ll see where we\u2019re at after that,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to rush him.\u201d<\/p>\n

In roster news, Tommy Pham<\/a> elected free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A Syracuse. The veteran outfielder was designated for assignment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 Mets center fielder Luis Robert Jr. remained out of the lineup against Washington and was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[53812,26622,30159,85055,38995,20390,35579,85056,48326,2032,56511,31461,9,11,10,71599,35574,48339],"class_list":["post-215570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-a-j-minter","tag-carlos-mendoza","tag-francisco-lindor","tag-injured-list","tag-jorge-polanco","tag-juan-soto","tag-kodai-senga","tag-left-fielder","tag-luis-robert","tag-mets","tag-mj-melendez","tag-mri","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-tommy-pham","tag-tyrone-taylor","tag-white-sox"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}