The lat injury that ended A.J. Minter‘s season in late April turned out to be a little more than a strain — the muscle tore the tendon right off the bone.
The left-handed Mets reliever was injured April 26 in Washington, complaining of triceps soreness, but what he was actually feeling was the tendon coming off the arm bone. He sought multiple opinions, hoping the injury could be repaired with rest, rehab and regenerative treatments like platelet-rich plasma shots, but ultimately, the decision came down to his future.
Surgery would give the 31-year-old a better chance to keep pitching for another few years. Minter wants to pitch as long as he can, with the goal of playing another four or five years, so he opted for a surgery, which is scheduled for next Monday in Chicago.
“From what I learned, they’re going to go in and reattach it, put some anchors in and basically attach the tendon to the bone and let it heal,” Minter said Friday at Citi Field. “The goal is to come in and have somewhat of a normal spring training, and then at the start of the season — depending on how I’m feeling — go on a rehab assignment and see how long it takes me to get back here.”
The procedure for a tendon avulsion surgery carries a rehab of 10 to 12 months. This is the second year in a row Minter will undergo season-ending surgery. While with the Atlanta Braves in August 2024, Minter had a major operation on his hip to repair a torn labrum.
“It’s super frustrating, because I was starting to feel so good,” Minter said. “I wish I knew what caused it.”
Entering free agency for the first time while rehabbing his hip was relatively stressful for the Texas A&M product, but the Mets offered him a $22 million contract with a player option for 2026, banking on a return to form.
Minter did return to old form, making the team out of camp and posting a 1.46 ERA over 11 innings. He was feeling healthier than he had in years, with a strong range of motion in hip and zero pain on the mound. It took longer than expected for him to throw at full velocity, and his velocity was finally starting to get back to where it was before his hip injury at the time of the lat injury.
“My velocity was increasing at a pretty rapid rate. That maybe had something to do with it,” he said. “There are so many scenarios. I wish it wouldn’t have happened. The frustrating thing is, I was feeling so good and excited to help this team.”
He didn’t think much of it coming off the mound in Washington, but the trainers were quickly able to figure out that something was wrong with his lat. Minter has dealt with shoulder injuries in the past, but never anything specific to his lat. However, it’s all connected. The lat muscle, along with the teres major and the pectoral muscles, allow the shoulder to adduct, rotate and extend the arm.
The extension is what Minter thinks could have been the culprit.
“If I had to guess, I was feeling so good that I gained so much more range of motion in my hips that it was allowing me to get a little more extension on the mound,” Minter said. “Maybe it put more stress on my arm, I don’t know.”
Minter and his fiancée Anna will return to their home in Dallas following the surgery, and then spend the rest of the season in New York rehabbing. While he’s not looking forward to another long rehab process, he plans to keep busy this time around helping Anna plan their wedding, which is set for December. He’s hoping to make the most of the time in New York as well. The two plan to explore the city when they return, something he wouldn’t be able to do if he was playing.
Minter is relieved to have some security with a player option for next season, which makes it easier to keep a positive attitude about the future. A veteran who helped the Braves win a World Series in 2021, Minter’s goal is to get healthy to be able to help the Mets win in 2026.
“Now, my thought process is to come back, get my body in the best shape possible, and help the team next year,” he said.
