Mets' Key Reliever to Begin Rehab Assignment

The New York Mets are now one step closer to getting a huge boost in the bullpen.

Left-handed reliever A.J. Minter, who is working his way back from lat surgery, is set to begin his rehab assignment with Low-A St. Lucie on Thursday afternoon. The Mets have been without Minter since April of last year when the 32-year-old suffered the gruesome injury, which caused his left lat muscle to tear off of the bone.

Minter underwent the season-ending surgery on May 12, 2025, which pulled him away from a phenomenal start to his career in New York. In his 13 appearances with the Mets, Minter posted a 1.64 ERA with 14 strikeouts to just six hits across 11 innings pitched. With the original recovery timeline slated to be around 10-12 months, it appears that the veteran reliever is right on schedule.

A.J. Minter will begin his rehab assignment today with Low-A St. Lucie #Mets https://t.co/fy1CsrKBYZ
— Pat Ragazzo (@ragazzoreport) April 9, 2026

A.J. Minter to Begin Rehab Assignment

The Mets signed Minter to a two-year, $22 million contract ahead of the 2025 season that included a player option for 2026, which he of course opted into following the injury. Before coming to New York, Minter spent eight seasons with the Atlanta Braves where he earned a reputation as one of the league's most consistent setup men, pitching to a 3.28 ERA with 422 strikeouts since making his debut in 2017.

Minter was originally brought in to serve as a left-handed setup option for closer Edwin Diaz, a role which he would now look to fill for Devin Williams. Minter was a huge loss last season, as the Mets bullpen struggled to find consistency throughout the season and became the main focus of the trade deadline. These moves ended up falling short, and the club was forced to rebuild the bullpen once again heading into 2026 with the departure of all three deadline acquisitions and the longtime closer in Diaz.

Now 11 games in, the Mets have gotten some solid production out of their new look pen. The four relievers with at least five appearances (Devin Williams, Brooks Raley, Luke Weaver, and Huascar Brazobán) have combined to allow zero runs, while another new addition in Tobias Myers has looked steady in his role, providing a 1.13 ERA in four games.

AJ Minter gets Luis Robert Jr. swinging in sim game action pic.twitter.com/2Nl8dqTcUy
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) March 4, 2026

Adding Minter into this equation would give the Mets another strong option for late-inning high-leverage spots, taking some of the load off of players like Brazobán and Raley who may not be able to sustain this level of success as the innings start to pile up.

As for a timeline, the latest indication we have came in February, when president of baseball operations David Stearns told reporters that they are targeting early May as a "realistic timeline." Since then, Minter made the important progression of throwing a live BP in the first week of March, facing hitters for the first time post-surgery. During one of his early BP sessions, the lefty cranked his fastball velocity up to 93 mph, just one tick below his average four-seamer during the past few seasons.

David Stearns says that early May is a "realistic timeline" for AJ Minter's return pic.twitter.com/0yNnYICEfP
— SNY (@SNYtv) February 10, 2026

Following the March 13th session, Minter was optimistic about the command and movement on his pitches, telling Anthony DiComo of MLB.com that his repertoire "feels way better than [he] expected it was going to feel.”

Now returning to game action just a few weeks, Minter appears to be right on schedule for the early-May arrival that Stearns was anticipating. Given the length of his time off, it will likely take a number of appearances for the Mets to feel comfortable slotting him into a big-league role, so expect Minter to see reps with a variety of minor league affiliates before rejoining the team.

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