Zack Wheeler Officially a Met: Injured

Zack Wheeler officially became a Met Wednesday when he was scratched from his first Spring Training start with an injury. It doesn’t appear to be serious — yet. Just wait until the Mets medical geniuses get their hands on him.

Wheeler apparently strained his oblique while taking batting practice. Mets Blog reports that the strain is mild, and that he could start throwing in about a week.

“I came out and it was a little stiff,” Wheeler said. “It’s early in the spring. We’ve still got a month left, so I don’t want to risk a bigger injury and be out longer.”

That makes sense. It appears the Mets will be extremely cautious with Zack Wheeler; after all, the future of the team is pretty much riding on his right arm.

“The big promise that we’ve got coming, it’s on the mound,” Terry Collins said. “You’re certainly not going to take a chance. You’ve got to be very, very careful, because we’re not going to do anything to hurt this guy.”

Let’s hope it is indeed a minor strain. These oblique things (whatever they are) are a bit scary because they always start out “mild,” then the player is out for a month. And with the Mets injury history…