Jenrry Mejia is eligible to return on July 7 when the Mets are in San Francisco.
In anticipation of being activated, the Mets transferred Mejia to Triple-A Las Vegas ahead of Monday night’s game against Sacramento at Cashman Field.
On Monday night, Mejia pitched a scoreless ninth inning in Las Vegas’ 14-7 loss to Sacramento. He allowed a hit, struck out two and threw 10 of his 13 pitches for strikes.
It was his third official minor league appearance while he waits to complete his 80-game PED suspension – he has allowed four hits with six strikeouts in four innings between the Gulf Coast League Mets and Las Vegas 51’s.
It makes sense to install Mejia right into the eighth inning role to setup Jeurys Familia. That way, Carlos Torres can resume his role as a long man, Bobby Parnell can continue to build himself up in a lower leverage role (although he has been impressive so far), and they can potentially use Hansel Robles as a primary seventh inning guy and really shorten up the game for the club. As I wrote earlier, since the club doesn’t score and an acquisition doesn’t seem imminent to boost the offense, they have to figure out how to prevent runs as much as possible.
The big question seemingly popping up now is how the Mets will handle the role Mejia inherits should the club make the playoffs. It’s a legitimate concern since Mejia cannot participate in postseason play after being suspended for PED use. But right now, the Mets need to get there, and worry about October when and if this becomes a problem.
Vic Black also made his fourth appearance since returning from a groin strain. While he pitched a scoreless fifth inning with two strikeouts, he walked three batters, raising his total to eight walks in only 4 2/3 innings with Las Vegas since June 4.
Black has not pitched for the Mets all year. He was activated from the disabled list in early June and immediately optioned to Triple-A.
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