Mets announce reliever Sam Coonrod has lat injury

The Mets announced that 30-year-old right-handed reliever Sam Coonrod has a “high-grade lat strain,” an injury that will presumably keep him sidelined for some time. For what it’s worth, the Mets didn’t indicate any sort of timeline for Coonrod’s return.

Coonrod joins a couple of other Mets relievers in experiencing injuries during spring training. The left-handed Brooks Raley is dealing with a hamstring issue, while the right-handed Bryce Montes de Oca has a stress reaction in his pitching elbow.

In 97.1 major league innings over the course of his career, Coonrod has a 5.27 ERA and a 4.42 FIP. He threw just 12.2 innings for the Phillies last year with a 7.82 ERA. Earlier this month, Anthony DiComo wrote about Coonrod’s past shoulder pain and how much better he felt after he recovered properly following a diagnosis of a partially torn rotator cuff.

Behind the Mets’ top five relievers—assuming Raley recovers in time to be on the Opening Day roster—there are still quite a few pitchers in camp trying to claim one of the final three spots ahead of the start of the season, even after the Mets let Rule 5 pick Zach Greene go back to the Yankees.