NEW YORK (AP) — Mets rookie right-hander Christian Scott is scheduled to undergo Tommy John surgery next week and is expected to miss the entire 2025 season.
Scott hasn’t pitched since July 21 due to a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow but hoped to return this month to the Mets, who entered Wednesday night two games ahead of Atlanta for the last National League playoff spot.
“I think it’s safe to say that he’s done for next year,” New York manager Carlos Mendoza said. “That’s why we waited — he gave it a try because if this was the decision, we knew he was going to be done anyway.”
The 25-year-old Scott began throwing off a mound late last month but said Wednesday he had a difficult time ramping up his off-speed pitches.
“Just couldn’t get over the hump with some of the off-speed pitches. Once we started to reach that over 82, 83 mph, it’s kind of the same feeling as before,” Scott said. “Talked to a lot of the medical staff, a lot of these guys here. We decided this is the best decision moving forward.”
Scott will have a hybrid version of Tommy John surgery in which he has the traditional ligament replacement while also adding an internal brace. Dr. Keith Meister will perform the procedure.
The surgery will address a long-simmering concern for Scott, who missed three weeks with a partially torn ligament in his right elbow last season, when he posted a 2.57 ERA for three affiliates and was selected the Mets’ minor league pitcher of the year.
“Obviously, I love to go out and compete and I love to do what I do. This is the best job in the world,” Scott said. “But at the same time, this is what we sign up for. It’s unfortunate, but at the same time, be positive about it and go out and be the best version of myself I possibly can on a day-to-day basis and do everything I can to get my body in a position to compete in ’26.”
Scott finished 0-3 with a 4.56 ERA and 39 strikeouts in 47 1/3 innings over nine starts. He had an impressive major league debut at Tampa Bay in early May.
“It’s not good that he’s going to be down for a long time, but you could use this experience this year as a development for him,” Mendoza said. “He took the baseball for us, he gave us a chance, he continues to learn and he knows what it takes to be a big league player, what it takes to be a big league pitcher, and just having the understanding of the grind and everything that comes with it.”
The Mets got mixed news Wednesday about two more injured starting pitchers. Kodai Senga, who strained his left calf in his lone appearance of the season July 26, said he will pitch for Triple-A Syracuse this weekend.
“I’m working my tail off and devoting all my time towards this,” Senga said through a translator.
Senga is eligible to come off the 60-day injured list next Wednesday. The Mets will not use him out of the bullpen but could have him make a short start followed by a bulk reliever.
Paul Blackburn, acquired July 30 from Oakland to bolster the Mets’ rotation depth, threw Wednesday for the first time since learning he had a spinal fluid leak in his back. Blackburn, on the injured list with a bruised right hand sustained when he was hit by a comebacker Aug. 23, said he felt a compression-like sensation during physical activity.
The right-hander had 10 PRP injections and hopes to return in some capacity next week.
“I want to help contribute any way I can this last week and a half and hopefully past that,” Blackburn said.
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FILE - New York Mets' Christian Scott delivers a pitch during the first inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, July 21, 2024, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — Lawyers representing 100 survivors and family members of victims of the deadliest shooting in Maine history have begun the formal process of suing the Army and an Army hospital for failing to act to stop the reservist responsible for the tragedy, attorneys announced Tuesday.
The individual notices of claim say the Army was aware of the reservist's mental health decline that left him paranoid, delusional and expressing homicidal ideations, producing a “hit list” of those he wanted to attack.
“It is difficult to conceive of a case in which Army personnel could have more warning signs and opportunities to intervene to prevent a service member from committing a mass shooting than what happened in the case of Army Reservist Robert Card,” lawyers wrote in their notices mailed Friday.
The notices of claim by four law firms are a required step in suing the federal government. The Army will have six months to determine whether to respond, after which a lawsuit may be filed.
Eighteen people were killed when the 40-year-old Card opened fire at two locations he'd frequented — a bowling alley and a cornhole league hosted by a bar and grill — on Oct. 25, 2023. Another 13 people were injured. Card was found dead two days later from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
An independent commission appointed by Maine's governor concluded that there were ample opportunities to intervene by both civilian law enforcement and the Army. For now, lawyers for victims and family and friends who suffered loss are focusing on the Army, and not a private hospital that treated Card or civilian law enforcement.
The Department of Defense, U.S. Army and Army Keller Hospital “broke its promises, failed to act reasonably, violated its own polices and procedures and disregarded directives and orders,” the claim said.
In September 2023, when Card threatened to “shoot up” an armory and his friend warned of "a mass shooting,” the Army failed to provide critical background about two doctors recommending that Card not have access to weapons when it requested that local law enforcement officers check on his well being. Card's commanding officer even downplayed the threat by undercutting the credibility of the soldier who issued the warning, and by declining to share all information at his disposal, the claims said.
Cynthia Young, whose husband William and 14-year-old son Aaron were killed at the bowling alley, said in a statement that pain and trauma never goes away. “As terrible as the shooting was it’s even more tragic that there were many opportunities to prevent this and they were not taken,” she added.
The filings said there may have been a time when mass shootings were so rare that they couldn’t be predicted but “that has not been true in America for decades.”
“Mass shootings, like what happened in Lewiston, are an epidemic in America. Consequently, those in positions of responsibility and authority are required to appreciate the warning signs and behaviors that telegraph the risk of mass violence, take them seriously, and act to prevent their occurrence," the claims said.
FILE - A man photographs a make-shift memorial at the base of the Lewiston sign at Veteran's Memorial Park, Oct. 29, 2023, in Lewiston, Maine. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
FILE - A woman visits a makeshift memorial outside Sparetime Bowling Alley, the site of a mass shooting, Oct. 28, 2023, in Lewiston, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
FILE - Rain-soaked memorials for those who died in a mass shooting sit along the roadside by Schemengees Bar & Grille, Oct. 30, 2023, in Lewiston, Maine. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
FILE - Law enforcement personnel are staged in a school parking lot during a manhunt for Robert Card in the aftermath of a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, Oct. 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
FILE — In this image taken from New York State Police body camera video that was obtained by WMTW-TV 8 in Portland, Maine, New York State Police interview Army reservist Robert Card, the man responsible for Maine's deadliest mass shooting, at Camp Smith, in Cortlandt, N.Y., July 16, 2023. (WMTW-TV 8/New York State Police via AP, File)
FILE - Law enforcement gather outside Schemengee's Bar and Grille, Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023, in Lewiston, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
