As he spoke outside the clubhouse on Wednesday, an upbeat Edwin Diaz discussed his knee injury and recovery, and said something that will be music to Mets fans' ears: He is not ruling out a return this season.
The timeline for the kind of injury Diaz suffered -- a full-thickness tear of his right patellar tendon -- is ordinarily around eight months, but some pitchers make it back faster -- as early as six months.
"If everything goes well, I think I can be back sooner than eight months," Diaz said.
"They want me to get better first and then they’ll see how I’m responding and my strength and all these things that I have to do, and then start throwing," he explained. "If the tests come back good, I might throw this year.
"I’m feeling great. We are working hard to see if I can come back as soon as possible, but everything is going in the right direction right now with the team, and the doctors say I’m doing great, so I’m really happy."
The closer said his recovery process right now includes working on his leg while continuing to keep his arm in shape.
One thing that should help Diaz is that the injury was to his plant leg -- not his landing leg. He was also fortunate to be diagnosed quickly, which resulted in surgery less than 24 hours after he got hurt.
