Mets lose Christian Scott to IL with right UCL sprain

NEW YORK -- Since the day Christian Scott signed his first professional contract, Mets officials have worked -- as they do with all pitchers -- to minimize his risk of an arm injury. The team has limited Scott’s innings. They’ve measured his biomechanical markers. They’ve communicated with him on a regular basis.

Despite all of it, the organization’s fears were at least partially realized on Tuesday, when the Mets diagnosed Scott with a sprained UCL in his right elbow and placed him on the 15-day injured list. As of Tuesday evening, team officials were still waiting for additional doctors to read the MRI that Scott underwent around midday.

“I don’t want to speculate here,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Hopefully, we get some good news. But we’ve got to wait and see.”

Scott, 25, felt enough elbow discomfort following his Sunday start in Miami to mention it to pitching coach Jeremy Hefner. When the soreness persisted into Monday morning, the Mets scheduled Scott for an MRI, which revealed his sprain.

The question is whether that sprain is just a stretching or partial tear of his UCL -- which does not always require ligament replacement surgery -- or a full tear. The latter would necessitate season-ending Tommy John surgery, which would knock Scott out for next season as well.

“It’s too early to tell,” Mendoza said. “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 was unavailable for comment on Tuesday.

A college reliever at the University of Florida, Scott has already reached a career-high with 89 2/3 innings between Triple-A Syracuse and the Majors this season. His previous high was 87 2/3 innings last season. Before that, Scott had never thrown more than 58 2/3 innings in any college or professional season.

Because of his history, and also a prior elbow injury that Scott dealt with last year, the Mets have been strict about the rookie’s usage. Earlier this season, they optioned him back to Syracuse in part to dampen his innings total, knowing they would need him later in the summer. Scott returned to the Majors on July 3 and has made four starts since that time, going 0-1 with a 5.49 ERA. On the season, he is 0-3 with a 4.56 ERA.

However long Scott’s absence lasts, it will not affect the Mets’ plans to proceed with a six-man rotation over the upcoming weeks -- something team officials believe is preferable to protect Kodai Senga, who will return from the injured list on Friday. To replace Scott in that mix, the Mets will likely either turn to José Buttó or Tylor Megill, each of whom features pros and cons.

Buttó has been one of the Mets’ best relievers over the last three weeks; stretching him back out on the fly would mean robbing the bullpen of an important arm. But he was also a capable starting pitcher earlier this season and has had more recent success in that role than Megill.

Megill, however, could enter the rotation capable of delivering 100-plus pitches in an outing right now.

The Mets plan to make that decision later this week. In the interim, they called up veteran reliever Alex Young, who will buttress the bullpen at least until Scott’s next rotation turn on Saturday.

“Those are some of the conversations we’re going to have here,” Mendoza said. “How are we going to approach this next stretch? … Somebody’s going to have to step up. But the plan continues to be a six-man rotation.”