Grae Kessinger sidelined with ‘significant’ hamstring injury

Mets infielder Grae Kessinger has to do with which manager Carlos Mendoza described as “a pretty significant injury” to his hamstring, as relayed by Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. Feinsand adds that Mendoza has indicated surgery “on the table” for Kessinger and that his recovery timeline will be a minimum of eight to 12 weeks.

The news is a major blow to Kessinger, who previously missed almost the entire 2025 season due to injury. He made his big league debut with the Astros in 2023, but was designated for assignment by the club shortly after the 2024 season. He was picked off waivers by the Diamondbacks, but played in just eleven games at Triple-A for the club due to his injury before ultimately being released. He didn’t sign with a new club as he recovered from that undisclosed injury, but he joined the Mets on a minor league deal in January.

Kessinger was firmly in the mix to be the Mets’ utility infielder heading into the 2026 campaign. Unfortunately, that’s not in the cards for him due to this latest injury. The 28-year-old has only 48 appearances at the big league level so far in his career, all as a member of the Astros. It’s difficult to draw conclusions about his overall skill based on his lifetime .131/.243/.213 slash line at the Major League level, as he has all 70 plate appearances in the Majors across two seasons, but a lifetime .268/.370/.400 slash line at Triple-A would certainly indicate he has a chance to become a reasonable utility player in the majors.

More details on the specifics of Kessinger’s timeline figure will become available once it is known whether or not he will need to go under the knife or if he can rehabilitate the injury. If he avoids surgery, the timeline mentioned by Mendoza indicates he could be back in the game around Memorial Day as a depth option. In the meantime, other players in the organization will have an opportunity to support the team’s incumbent infielders. Of Francisco Lindor, Jorge Polanco, Marcus Semien, Bo BichetteAnd Brett Baty all set to start regularly between the four infield spots and DH, the utility infield job on the Mets bench could end up with a fairly small amount of available playing time.

Still, a big league gig is coveted for any young player or minor league veteran, and the players who will compete for the position this spring with Kessinger out of commission include other non-roster invitees like Vidal Brujan, Jackson CluffAnd Christian Arroyo. Younger Ronny Mauricio arguably has the edge over all of these names considering he’s already on the 40-man roster, but it should be kept in mind that the aforementioned lack of available playing time in the role could make the Mets prefer to play Mauricio regularly at Triple-A. In that case, it seems likely that one of the aforementioned bench pieces will win the job, with Brujan perhaps the favorite given his versatility and experience in the outfield.