


Jeff McNeil’s season ended unceremoniously.
He and the Mets hope his next season will begin uneventfully, too.
The Mets’ second baseman is done for the season after being placed on the injured list Thursday with a partial tear in his UCL, McNeil said.
McNeil, who sustained the injury sliding into second base this month, will receive a platelet-rich plasma injection in his left elbow Friday, and “hopefully that takes care of it,” he said.
The hope will be that surgery is not required and the worst that McNeil deals with is six weeks without golf.
“It’s tough to have it end this way, but hopefully won’t have any problems with it next year,” McNeil said before his Mets finished a series with the Marlins at Citi Field and after his own up-and-down season was wrapped up.
McNeil could not follow up his batting title in 2022 with a strong 2023.
His batting average fell from .326 to .270, but .270 represents a large improvement from where he sat for most of his first half.
The 31-year-old struggled with any consistency, particularly during a poor June and July, during which he hit .212 with one home run in 48 games.
“I think, out of the six-month season, four of them were pretty solid, and two of them kind of held me down,” said McNeil, who bounced back to hit .303 with seven home runs over his final 52 games.
McNeil saw the majority of his time at second base but moved just about everywhere, playing every position apart from third base, catcher and pitcher.
When his bat was not helping, he tried to help elsewhere, but the toll he placed on his body likely hurt him.
His hitting picked up during a second half in which he said he was “much healthier.” He alluded to nagging injuries that hampered him earlier in the season.
“Been grinding through it basically all year. I’ve always had something,” said McNeil, whose final injury arrived Sept. 11.
McNeil smacked a single into right field and tried (unsuccessfully) stretching it into a double against the Diamondbacks.
Former Met Tommy Pham retrieved the ball and threw to second, where McNeil slid in with his left arm raised.
The arm crashed into shortstop Jordan Lawlar and bent back slightly.
Ever since, McNeil has managed the pain, but he said “it was really bad” Wednesday.
A tough season has finished on a poor note, but both McNeil and manager Buck Showalter alluded to satisfaction with a .270 batting average considering the June and July depths.
“Obviously, [it’s] not where I want to be,” McNeil said, “but [from] where I was — kind of turned it around in the second half.”