Manaea gets PRP injection, won't throw for 2 weeks amid setback

MIAMI -- Mets left-hander Sean Manaea won't throw for two weeks after he experienced a setback in his return from a right oblique strain, manager Carlos Mendoza said Tuesday. The Mets had been hoping to get him back in the rotation in mid- to late April, but now he likely won't return until at least late May.

Mendoza said Manaea reported feeling some discomfort in the oblique a couple days ago as he started to ramp up his throwing, and an MRI revealed inflammation. Manaea received a platelet-rich plasma injection on Monday.

“He’s gonna go two weeks of no throwing, and then we've got to start building him back up again,” Mendoza said. “We have to revisit and see where we’re at after that.”

Manaea was initially shut down in late February with the oblique strain, and he began throwing the week of March 10 at the beginning of a full Spring Training-style progression, which takes the better part of six weeks.

Mendoza also provided injury updates on right-hander Paul Blackburn (15-day injured list) and All-Star second baseman Jeff McNeil (10-day IL).

“[Blackburn] started his throwing progression yesterday,” Mendoza said. “It went well.”

As for whether Blackburn would return from the 15-day IL stint when he comes eligible next week, Mendoza wasn’t certain.

“That I’m not sure,” he said. “I gotta talk to the pitching coaches, I gotta talk to the trainers, and [see] how we want to build him back up. We want to see 55, 65, 75 [pitches], and then how quick can we do that? So we will have those discussions here pretty quickly.”

Regarding McNeil, Mendoza said: “I’m not sure [if he’s taking] BP, but he’s taking swings. Tee, toss, regular baseball. Eighty, 85 percent, so all positive there.”