Mets hurler provides optimistic update on injury recovery

The New York Mets didn't start the 2025 regular season with their imagined starting rotation, which is a byproduct of the injuries they dealt with during spring training.

Starting pitchers Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas were both sidelined relatively early in the spring due to oblique and lat injuries, respectively. And that wasn't the end of the rotation's injury woes, as news broke on March 26 that right-handed hurler Paul Blackburn would begin the season on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation in his right knee.

While this didn't sound good, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns provided some reassurance by saying that the team expects Blackburn's injury to be relatively brief and that he should be available to pitch at some point in April.

Blackburn spoke with the media ahead of New York's March 28 game against the Houston Astros and provided a positive update on his recovery.

"I feel great," Blackburn said, per an X post from SNY. "I feel great. But yeah, I guess it's just one of those things that when you put the gel in, you have to wait seven days to just being able to rotate on it and everything like that.

"So just kind of waiting for those seven days to be up, and go," he added.