Empire Writes Back
Fansided

New York Mets Concerned of Bobby Parnell’s Possible Return

By Sarah Yu

facebooktwitterreddit

With his rehab assignment almost up, as he has been in the minor leagues for 30-days come Wednesday, it is time for the New York Mets to recall former closer Bobby Parnell. While the Mets are happy to get some players healthy back from the DL, they have to be concerned that Parnell has not yet returned to his pre-surgery performance after being more than a year removed from Tommy John surgery.

New York Mets pitcher Bobby Parnell may be reuniting with the team later this week, but that also brings concern relating to his post-surgery/rehab performance.Parnell’s last rehab appearance is scheduled to be for Double-A Binghamton before being removed from the disabled list and reactivated, ESPN reported. In contrast to fellow pitcher Matt Harvey, Parnell’s performance in the minors showed that it isn’t the same as it was prior to his injury and surgery.

According to the team’s manager Terry Collins, their biggest concern relating to Parnell has to do with his velocity. Parnell’s fastball was 92mph during his last rehab appearance, which is lower than his average of 95.6mph in the major league according to ESPN.

“You can say so right now [it’s a concern], but you don’t know until he gets here,” Collins told the New York Post. “I think once he gets here he might amp it up and pitch at 95 and 96. He might have it still, but we won’t know until he gets here.”

More from New York Mets

It’s most likely that Parnell may need to get readjusted to the environment and feel of the major league before seeing some sort of improvement in his velocity. Collins is hoping that the adrenaline will kick in being back in major league stadiums instead of minor league ones and that it will get him closer to the MPH the Mets have been used to seeing from him before his injury.

Though the Mets could have Travis d’Arnaud and Dilson Herrera also reactivated by the weekend, Collins is more focused on their performances than being concerned about having big names back on the roster.

“I think it’s important that when Travis comes back and Dilson is ready to go, they are ready to help us,” Collins said. “We can’t go through a two-week spring training with them.”

So far, the Mets have definitely been performing significantly better than last year and it is with high hopes that the return of these three players will make a positive contribution to the team’s success and overall performance.

Next: Are the Mets in the Top 10 of our Power Rankings?

More from Empire Writes Back

Home/New York Mets