New York Mets first baseman Jorge Polanco was placed on the 15-day injured list Saturday with a new injury, just as the $40 million free agent signing looked like he had recovered from an Achilles issue. With the Mets in the midst of a nine-game losing streak, Polanco has missed three straight games with bursitis pain in his left Achilles, according to a CBS Sports report.
Now Polanco has a wrist injury as well, the team learned Friday. The next day, the Mets placed the 13-year veteran on the IL, in a move first reported by beat writer Mike Puma of the New York Post.
According to Puma’s report Saturday morning, the Mets have placed Jorge Polanco on the IL with a right wrist contusion.
The new Polanco injury comes at an unfortunate moment for the Mets, to say the least. A lopsided 12-4 defeat to the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Friday pushed the New York losing skid to double digits. The Mets have scored a mere 16 runs over those nineconsecutive defeats, just 1.8 per game.
They have been shut out three times and scored more than two runs only once during the losing streak, in an 11-6 loss to the Athletics one week ago.
New Polanco Injury Suddenly Appears
The Mets hoped they had their replacement for first baseman Pete Alonso, who departed as a free agent for the Baltimore Orioles during the offseason, when they signed the former Seattle Mariner Polanco to a two-year, $40 million contract in December.
But the 32-year-old Polanco has appeared at first base in just two games of the 14 he has played so far, taking the designated hitter spot in the other 12.
Polanco’s right wrist injury appeared after the Mets lost a 2-1 decision to the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 14, the last game the career 155-home run hitter played for New York.
“Wednesday he came in and didn’t think much of it, but it just didn’t get better,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said Friday before the decision to place Polanco on the IL, as quoted by beat writer Jackson Stone of MLB.com. “So we sent him for an MRI yesterday on the off-day here in Chicago, and we’re still waiting. We got multiple people taking a look at him. The [Achilles] is in a better place, but now he’s dealing with a right wrist that is keeping him from at least the lineup today.”
Now, Polanco will be out of the lineup for at least the next two weeks, it appears.
Mets Make Surprising Choice to Fill Roster Spot
To fill Polanco’s roster spot, the Mets made a decision that had some Mets reporters scratching their heads. The Mets brought up a 29-year-old catcher, Hayden Senger, from Triple-A Syracuse.
Not exactly a highly touted prospect, Senger was the Mets’ 24th-round draft pick back in 2018 and did not make his major league debut until last year, when he appeared in 33 games for New York.
The offense-starved Mets may be hoping to catch lightning in a bottle with Senger. Despite the fact that he batted just .181 in 72 at-bats for the Mets in his brief stint in 2025, the catcher has been on a tear at Syracuse this year, posting a 1.030 OPS and blasting five home runs in just 38 at-bats so far.
Mets Misery Continues as Jorge Polanco Suddenly Sent to Injured List