Right handed knuckleballer R.A. Dickey is starting tonight for the Mets in place of lefty Oliver Perez who was demoted to the bullpen last week. To make room for Dickey on the roster the Mets have placed left handed pitcher Jon Niese on the DL according to Andy Martino of the NY Daily News .
Niese’s injury is being labeled a mild right hamstring strain. He suffered the injury in the third inning of his last start against the Marlins. He will be eligible to come off the DL on June 1, but will probably need more time as hamstring injuries tend to take some time to heal for pitchers.
Dickey has been the Mets best starter in Triple-A Buffalo so far this season and a big innings eater as well. In eight starts he is 4-2 with a 2.23 ERA in 60.2 innings. He has struck out 37 batters during that time and walked a very low eight batters, very good considering he is a knuckleballer.
The Mets bullpen has been good this year, but has been taxed as they have been heavily leaned on. The rotation is in taters too so the idea is that Dickey can come in an make an emergency start, but with the way he’s been going deep into games maybe he can help out the bullpen as well.
This move also means that Jenrry Mejia will not be sent down to the minors just yet. That will probably now happen when Ryota Igarashi comes off the DL.
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