New York Mets right-hander Christian Scott will undergo elbow surgery next week to both replace his ulnar collateral ligament (the Tommy John ligament) and install an internal brace, agent Nate Heisler announced on Wednesday. While every player and every rehab stint is different, that likely takes Scott out through the 2025 season.
Scott, 25, has been sidelined since July 21. In nine big-league starts this season, he compiled a 4.56 ERA (86 ERA+) and a 3.25 strikeout-to-walk ratio. When the Mets placed Scott on the injured list on July 23, they described the injury as a UCL strain.
"It's too early to tell," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said at the time regarding the possibility of Scott needing surgery. "I'm not going to sit here and speculate when we don't have all the facts and all the information. We've got to wait till the doctors and all the people that have to read the MRI and all that, and then we'll make that decision."
Scott's elbow had plagued him dating back to last season, when it caused him to miss more than two weeks late in the campaign.
In addition to Scott, the Mets continue to be without fellow starters Kodai Senga and Paul Blackburn, the latter of whom was recently shut down after experiencing a spinal fluid leak in his back.
The Mets enter Wednesday with an 83-68 record on the season, putting them in a tie for the National League's second wild-card spot with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Additionally, the Mets are two games up on the first team outside of the playoff bracket, the Atlanta Braves. The Mets and Braves are scheduled to play three games in Atlanta next week, a series that will determine the season series/tiebreaker and could ultimately dictate which of the clubs lays claim to a playoff berth at year's end.