Francisco Lindor is back. The New York Mets activated their shortstop from the injured list Wednesday, ending an absence of more than two months caused by a strained left calf.
Lindor suffered the injury on April 22 and was placed on the injured list the following day. He made his final rehab appearance Tuesday with Syracuse, playing eight innings at shortstop and collecting two hits in five at-bats.
Given the length of his recovery and the fact that he hasn’t seen much game action, the Mets chose not to play him in both games of Wednesday’s scheduled doubleheader against the Cubs. He is slated to appear in Game 2.
The team has already been dealing with multiple injury setbacks this season. Juan Soto sat out the first game of the doubleheader due to back stiffness, and the Mets have rarely been able to field their full preferred lineup from top to bottom.
President of baseball operations David Stearns acknowledged the team needs to improve, while also tempering expectations for Lindor’s immediate impact. “We’ve got to start playing better baseball, win more games consistently. Francisco is a big part of that,” Stearns said. “We think he can help us. We’ve got a sense of urgency throughout our team right now. We also can’t put everything on Francisco to come back at a time when he hasn’t played baseball very much, and expect us to put him on his back.”
On the season, Lindor is hitting .226. He had been finding his stride in the nine games just before the injury, going 11-for-33 to climb from a .188 average.
The five-time All-Star had a strong 2024 campaign, batting .267 with 31 home runs, 86 RBIs, a .346 on-base percentage, and a .466 slugging percentage across 160 games. He led the National League with 644 at-bats and topped the entire major leagues with 732 plate appearances.
Over the course of his career with Cleveland from 2015 to 2020 and then New York, Lindor has appeared in 1,559 regular-season games, posting a .273 batting average with 281 home runs and 861 RBIs.
