Minter is due to return in late April or early May from a lat injury he suffered last season.

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The Mets signed 32-year-old lefty and career Atlanta Brave A.J. Minter to a two-year, $22 million contract in the 2024-2025 season with the intention of making him an essential late-inning piece in their bullpen. Things did not go according to plan. On April 26, Minter walked off the mound at Nationals Park in Washington DC having a suffered an injury, but he did not realize at the time how bad the injury was.

“I didn’t think it was going to be a season-ending injury,” Minter said this week. It turned out that he had completely torn the lat muscle from his bone and needed surgery, evoking horrible memories in the minds of Mets fans of Noah Syndergaard suffering a similar injury on the very same mound eight years earlier. Thus, Minter’s first season as a Met ended after just 13 appearances. For that very brief period last season, Minter was everything the Mets hoped for. He pitched to a 1.64 ERA and struck out 14 batters in his 11 innings of work.

As the Mets’ pitching staff faltered down the stretch last season, once again struggling to consistently build a bridge to Edwin Díaz, Minter’s absence was acutely felt. The bullpen as a collective pitched to an ERA over 4 in the second half of 2025. With Danny Young also having gone down early in the season with a season-ending UCL tear that required Tommy John surgery to repair, the Mets had a hard time finding consistent left-handed relief pitching. A group that included Genesis Cabrera, Jose Castillo, and Dicky Lovelady, among others cycled in and out of the bullpen to fill that void with mostly mediocre results. Such a problem was the Minter-shaped hole in the bullpen that the Mets had to address it at the deadline via trade, acquiring Gregory Soto from the Orioles, who pitched to an uninspiring 4.50 ERA as a Met.

“We felt it last year when he went down,” manager Carlos Mendoza recently said of Minter. “He’s a guy that’s going to pitch in high leverage. He’s been pretty successful. He’s elite. The biggest thing when you’ve got a lefty there that can get righties out, he’s a weapon there -- a guy that we’re going to be counting on for those high-leverage [spots].”

Just a few days after Minter’s injury, the Mets brought back Brooks Raley, who was still rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, on a cheap deal with an option for 2026. That turned out to be an excellent move by David Stearns; Raley was a huge shot in the arm from the left side in the bullpen later in the season and will begin 2026 as the primary left-handed reliever in the bullpen. Unless the Mets decide to roster perpetual on-again, off-again Met Dicky Lovelady or Bryan Hudson for that final bullpen spot currently still up for grabs, Raley will be the only lefty in the pen until Minter returns. Regarding that roster battle, Carlos Mendoza emphasized that the Mets are not necessarily looking for a second lefty and will take the best group of pitchers north with the team, regardless of handedness.

Last Friday, everyone’s eyes were on Francisco Lindor as he took live batting practice for the first time this spring as he prepared to play in his first Grapefruit League game over the weekend. But that live BP was also A.J. Minter’s third session of the spring. He threw all three of his pitches in the session and touched 93 mph on the radar gun. He admitted that his velocity was slower than where he wants it to be, but is also cognizant that he and the Mets are taking his ramp-up slow to keep him healthy. “Honestly, it feels way better than I expected it was going to feel,” Minter said. At one point one of his cutters, which Lindor foul-tipped, even induced a “That was sick” remark from the Mets’ shortstop.

Minter is no stranger to rehabbing injuries. He had surgery to repair a torn labrum in 2024 and has also undergone Tommy John surgery and surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome. “But this by far has been the easiest rehab process,” Minter said. “I’ve had it all, but this has been about getting the shoulder strong again.” With just a few games left in spring training, Minter is hoping to see Grapefruit League action before the team heads north for Opening Day and remains on track to return in late April or early May.

“I want to help this team out. I feel like I let them down last year,” Minter said. “But for me to help the team is for me to stay healthy and on the field. If I have to be a month behind, so be it, and just make sure I’m ready to go when I come back.”