Mets right-hander Carlos Carrasco to begin rehab assignment

New York Mets’ right-hander Carlos Carrasco will begin a rehab assignment Thursday night, according to the Brooklyn Cyclones, the Mets’ High-A affiliate.

The return of a healthy Carrasco would be a huge boon to a Mets team that is gearing up for a pennant race over the season’s final months. They currently sit atop the NL East, but have both Philadelphia and Atlanta within 3.5 and 4 games, respectively. The rotation, despite an excellent front three in Jacob deGrom, Marcus Stroman and Taijuan Walker, has taken some hits with the losses of David Peterson, Jordan Yamamoto, Thomas Szapucki and Joey Lucchesi to injuries, the latter two being done for the year. As a clear contender, the Mets will surely be looking into making additions at the deadline and were recently connected to Cole Hamels. The status of Carrasco could have an impact on how aggressively the Mets pursue starting pitching.

Acquired in the offseason blockbuster that also brought over Francisco Lindor, the Mets have not yet seen Carrasco take the mound this season. The righty tore his hamstring during spring training and has been out since. Carrasco has been through a lot in recent years, having battled leukemia, returning healthy, being traded and then the aforementioned hamstring injury. But when on the mound, he has been a very effective starter. With Cleveland from 2014 to 2020, “Cookie” threw 1004 innings with an ERA of 3.41, K% of 28.1 and a BB% of 5.9%, and accumulated 23.4 fWAR in that span.

The Mets will surely be hoping to have that level of production back in the mix, both for this year’s stretch run and the future, as Carrasco is under contract for 2022 at $12M, with a $14M vesting/club option for 2023.