UCLA's Griffin Canning 'Feeling Better' After Season-Ending Injury

Canning is in high hopes despite a ruptured Achilles ending a career year.

Jun 15, 2025; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets pitcher Griffin Canning (46) walks to the dugout during the middle of the fifth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images | Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

It's been almost a month since New York Mets and former UCLA starting pitcher Griffin Canning suffered a season-ending ruptured Achilles in his 16th start against the Atlanta Braves.

Canning was having a career year on a one-year prove-it deal with the Mets after spending his first five seasons with the Los Angeles Angels. He is going to finish with the lowest single-season ERA of his career with New York.

A week following his injury, he caught up with MLB.com's Bill Ladson and gave updates on how he'd feeling in recrovery.

“I’m feeling a little bit better every day,” Canning said. “The doctor said the surgery went really well. I saw him [Monday] and got splint off. There wasn’t that much swelling or bruising. I felt like I got kicked in the back of the leg. Once I couldn’t put my foot on it and talked with [head athletic trainer Joseph Golia] when he came out there, it wasn’t good [to put foot on the ground]. It’s going to be tough. I’ll try to take it one day at a time.

"“It sucks. Obviously, I want to be out there with the guys, and I just love baseball,” Canning said. “That’s probably the worst part -- is that I don’t get to play for a while. I’ve been doing some research and reading up on all the basketball players that have had this. I’ll figure out what to do."

The Mets will miss his presence in the rotation direly, as he was part of the pitching staff with the lowest collective ERA in the major leagues.

Canning's Career With UCLA

Canning spent two season with UCLA. In 2017, he was a Golden Spikes Award semifinalist, D1Baseball, Collegiate Baseball and Perfect Game/Rawlings All-American second team selection, All-Pac-12 team selection, named to Pac-12 All-Defensive Team and the team leader in innings pitched, strikeouts and ERA, just to name a few of his accomplishments.

The then-junior started 17 games and boasted a 2.34 ERA and 7-4 record over 119.0 innings pitched. Canning was drafted by the Angels with the 47th overall pick in the second round of the 2017 MLB Draft. He finished his career with the Bruins sixth all-time in strikeouts with 301 after two seasons.

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