Mets place Brandon Nimmo on IL, call up Rajai Davis, DFA Paul Sewald

After sitting out Tuesday’s game, Brandon Nimmo has been placed on the injured list retroactive to May 21 with a stiff neck. This is the same neck injury that occurred all the way back on April 16 which caused him to exit the game and miss two games. This had been an injury that according to Nimmo, had bothered him on and off since. At the time, it had been reported that the injury hampered his ability to play right and center field due to pain in turning his neck, along with causing discomfort when he ran. The Mets finally decided to have him seek an MRI when the pain became so bad that he could not play in Tuesday’s game.

Since injuring his neck, Nimmo has posted a .536 OPS. Before the injury, he had posted an an OPS of .851 despite a slow start to the season. While correlation does not neccesarily imply causation, it would be fair to say that playing through this neck injury certainly did not help his production.

In a corresponding move, the Mets purchased the contract of Rajai Davis. Davis was signed this offseason primarily to serve as minor league depth. Davis will certainly get some amount of playing time due to all three Mets outfielders out due to injury. Jeff McNeil is currently sitting out tonight’s game due to hamstring tightness, however the Mets have determined that an MRI is necessary.

Paul Sewald has been designated for assignment to make room for Davis on the 40-man roster. Sewald has not pitched much for the Mets this year and will have to clear waivers.