The New York Mets made one move to upgrade their catching corps when they traded Matt Harvey to the Cincinnati Reds for Devin Mesoraco. Mesoraco has taken the roster spot of Tomas Nido, leaving him in a time share with Jose Lobaton for the time being. Lobaton is merely holding the fort until Kevin Plawecki is ready to return from a hand injury. Plawecki’s progress on the rehab front has been frustrating as the broken bone in his left hand has been slow to heal, but he is finally making some progress. Danny Abriano of MetsBlog reports that Plawecki is playing catch and started a hitting progression on Wednesday.
While the injury isn’t to Plawecki’s throwing hand, the issue that has been delaying his return has been an inability to grip a bat. Plawecki’s grip strength has reportedly doubled over the past week and has reached a point where the Mets are comfortable enough to let him start hitting. Once Plawecki is able to hit on a consistent basis, the Mets will need to send him out on a rehab assignment to get some at bats against live pitchers. If all goes well, Plawecki will be back in about two weeks, although the Mets need a lot more to change than just the return of one of their catchers to improve after a 7-16 stretch.
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