NEW YORK -- Originally hopeful that Juan Soto could avoid a stint on the injured list, the Mets on Monday took the more cautious route, placing Soto on the 10-day IL with a right calf strain. While the move is retroactive to Saturday, the Mets announced that a typical timetable to return from his severity of strain is two to three weeks, meaning Soto will likely spend more than the minimum amount of time on the IL.
“There’s no reason for us to push it here,” manager Carlos Mendoza said before the Mets opened a three-game set Tuesday against the Diamondbacks.
The Mets promoted Ronny Mauricio from Triple-A Syracuse to take Soto’s roster spot.
Soto, 27, felt tightness in his calf running first to third in Friday’s 10-3 Mets win over the Giants. He exited the game in the first inning and had an MRI the next day, which revealed the strain.
“Just wanted to play it safe,” Mendoza said. “From the very beginning, I’ve been saying that these are tricky, the calf area. There’s no reason for us to continue to go day by day and put him through a series of exercises and make a decision whether he’s going to be available or not. We just decided, ‘You know what? Take your time.’”
Soto has been on the injured list three times before in his career, all while playing for the Nationals. In 2019, Soto landed on the IL due to back spasms. In 2020, he was placed on the COVID-19 IL due to possible exposure to the virus. And in 2021, he went on the IL because of a strained left shoulder. None of those ailments cost him significant time, and since 2022, Soto has been one of the game’s healthiest players, appearing in 640 of a possible 658 games. Only Matt Olson, Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor have played in more over that stretch.
Considering his two-to-three-week recovery timeline, this will likely be the longest IL stint of Soto’s career. He will receive treatment in the coming days and participate in a series of indoor exercises to maintain his fitness, but Soto won’t restart baseball activities until his soreness subsides.
“I’ve experienced calf tightness before,” Soto said Saturday in San Francisco. “This is definitely not the worst I’ve felt. So I feel positive with that.”
In the second season of a 15-year, $765 million contract, Soto was off to a hot start in 2026, slashing .355/.412/.516 with a home run and two doubles in eight games prior to his injury.
With Soto sidelined, the Mets have been relying on several bench players, including Tyrone Taylor and Brett Baty, to play in the outfield. Both are capable of manning left, as is Carson Benge, who was scheduled to start there Sunday before a minor thumb issue pushed Baty to the bench. That opened an opportunity for Jared Young, who went 3-for-3 in a 5-2 win over the Giants and made two standout plays in left field.
The personnel shuffling has also created daily opportunities for Mark Vientos, who is thriving as the team’s near-everyday first baseman.
“It’s hard to replace Juan Soto,” Mendoza said. “We showed it the last three games in San Francisco, it’s a pretty deep lineup. So at the end of the day, we’ve got to go out there. We’ve got a job to do. And they will. We’ve got a lot of good players here.”
Mauricio, meanwhile, gives the Mets a true backup shortstop on their roster. The former top prospect has also been playing second and third in the Minors this season and has prior experience in left.
“Even though his name is not going to be in the starting lineup,” Mendoza said, “he’s going to have a pretty important role.”