Carlos Mendoza Offers Telling Update on Mets' Dedniel Núñez, Ronny Mauricio

New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza gave injury updates on a few standout players.
Oct 13, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza (64) speaks to the media before game one of the NLCS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
Oct 13, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza (64) speaks to the media before game one of the NLCS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images / Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
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The New York Mets surely thought they had another elite reliever on their hands after the emergence of right-hander Dedniel Núñez early in the 2024 season.

Núñez made his major league debut on April 9, 2024, and rather quickly made 25 appearances while amassing an impressive 2.31 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, and a whopping 48 strikeouts in 35 innings pitched.

Then Núñez suffered a strained right flexor tendon and didn't pitch after August 24.

Not much was heard about how his recovery was progressing until MLB.com's Anthony DiComo made a November 22 X post that wrote, "Heard Dedniel Núñez is progressing well from a strained right flexor tendon and PRP injection, which is great news for a player who once seemed at risk of surgery. He's going to work out with Licey of LIDOM and could even make a winter ball cameo if things continue to go well."

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza was asked about Núñez when speaking with the media on January 25 and also offered optimism.

"Good. Knock on wood, healthy," Mendoza said of Núñez, per an X post from Metsmerized Online. "Threw some bullpens, threw live BP down in the academy in the Dominican Republic. It was just light catch and now we’re just going to start building him up again.

"So right now, all good reports. And talking to him right now, he's in a good place," Mendoza continued.

Mendoza also spoke about Ronny Mauricio, the speedy shortstop who missed all of 2024 due to a knee injury.

"[Mauricio's] going through his running progression. We’re going to take it slow with him," Mendoza said, per a January 25 article from SNY's Phillip Martinez. "This is a guy that missed the whole year last year and had some setbacks but we like where he’s at physically. He’s doing baseball activities, he’s hitting in the cages, taking groundballs, he’s throwing. The running progression continues to get better but we’ll take our time with him at the beginning of camp."

It sounds like the Mets will enter spring training with a (mostly) healthy ball club.


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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers the New York Mets and Women’s Basketball for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years. He believes Mark Teixeira should have been a first ballot MLB Hall of Fame inductee.