Nimmo 'week to week' with knee, ankle sprains

Quintana undergoes surgery to repair stress fracture in rib

March 18th, 2023

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- The Mets provided optimistic updates on center fielder and left-hander on Saturday afternoon.

A day after injuring his right ankle against the Marlins, Mets center fielder Brandon Nimmo woke up to pain in his right knee. He underwent an MRI on Saturday morning and it revealed he has a low-grade sprain in both knee and ankle. He is listed as week to week and it's not known if he will be ready for Opening Day.

"Everything is structurally sound," Mets general manager Billy Eppler said. "We have some time before Opening Day, so we will continue to watch him. We'll probably have an update on him a week from now and then we will be able to get a timetable on him. All and all, I feel good about the results we got compared to what they could have looked like."

On Friday, with the bases loaded, nobody out and the Mets already leading by what ended up being the final score, 6-1, Danny Mendick hit what looked like a double-play ball. Nimmo slid into second base with his spike getting caught in the dirt, hurting his right leg. However, Marlins catcher Jacob Stallings was called for catcher’s interference.

Nimmo was down on the ground for a few minutes in what appeared to be serious pain, but he walked off the field soon after with a limp.

As for Quintana, he underwent bone graft surgery Friday night to repair a stress fracture in his rib and will not return to the Majors until at least July. The left-hander had a benign lesion on his rib, which became the primary factor behind his decision to pursue surgery instead of a more conservative route.

"They were able to clear some of the area that had the lesion packed with some healthy bone that doctors took out of his left hip," Eppler said. "He will be traveling back to Miami. He is in good spirits and a good spot. It will probably be a week and then we'll start moving him around a little bit more."