Mets place infielder Luis Guillorme on 10-day IL with groin strain

The Mets are placing infielder Luis Guillorme on the 10-day injured list due to a groin strain, the team announced. MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo reported the diagnosis and the potential 3-4 week recovery period that Guillorme will need shortly before the team made it official. Once Guillorme recovers from the injury, he’ll need some time to build back up and go out on a rehab assignment, so he could be on the shelf as long as six weeks, Mike Puma of the New York Post tweets.

There’d already been some speculation about top prospect Brett Baty joining the Mets to make his big league debut in place of Guillorme, but manager Buck Showalter quashed those rumors in meeting with reporters Monday. Neither Baty nor Mark Vientos are viewed as options to take Guillorme’s spot on the roster at this time, DiComo tweets.

The loss of Guillorme is tough for the Mets, whose infield mix has thinned out a bit recently. Eduardo Escobar isn’t on the injured list but has been battling oblique discomfort. He’s in the lineup Monday night, but the veteran switch-hitter is limited to batting left-handed for the time being. J.D. Davis, meanwhile, was traded to the Giants prior to the Aug. 2 trade deadline.

Guillorme has been solid on both sides of the ball in 2022, batting .283/.355/.357 while taking a career-high 289 plate appearances. He’s offered next to no power but has also shown strong bat-to-ball and plate discipline skills, evidenced by a career-low 13.5% strikeout rate and a sharp 10% walk rate.

It’s not yet clear how the Mets will handle filling Guillorme’s spot on the roster, though Showalter indicated that someone is on the way to take that spot, specifically mentioning a need to add a player who can cover some middle infield work as needed, as well. (Guillorme is the team’s lone backup to shortstop Francisco Lindor.) Speculatively, the Mets have both JT Riddle and Deven Marrero as veteran options in Triple-A Syracuse, though there’s been no indication from the team that either is being selected to the MLB roster.

Guillorme isn’t the only player the Mets will be without for the time being, either. Showalter indicated that catcher Tomas Nido is away from the club due to illness, which has prompted the Mets to recall catcher Michael Perez from Triple-A. Perez, acquired from the Pirates in late July, will make his team debut if he gets into a game while Nido is unavailable.