The Mets' top prospect avoided breaking any bones on a freak play at home plate.
Relatively good news, Mets fans: right-handed pitcher Noah Syndergaard has a sprained a/c joint in his left shoulder. The team says he'll be shut down for five to seven days, but x-rays came back negative for broken bones. While we don't know yet when he'll return to the mound, any broken bone would have likely set put him on the shelf for a significant period of time. The injury occurred on a play at home plate in last night's Las Vegas 51s game.
Syndergaard had just returned from a brief stint on the minor league disabled list for a flexor-pronator strain in his right arm. Perhaps the silver lining here is that he'll get a little extra time to rest his pitching arm while his left shoulder heals.
The consensus top Mets prospect before the season, Syndergaard has been with the Triple-A 51s all year. He's thrown 54.1 innings over eleven starts with a 4.47 ERA and 4.04 FIP. That might look bad, but it's not terrible given the context of the Pacific Coast League and Las Vegas in particular. Syndergaard has struck out 9.44 batters per nine while walking 3.15 and allowing 0.99 home runs per nine. Assuming he returns to the mound sooner than later, he should still get his first crack at the big leagues later this year.