So much for the New York Mets having Noah Syndergaard back for the rest of the summer. After making just two starts following a seven-week stint on the disabled list due to a finger issue, the Mets placed Syndergaard back on the 10-day DL Sunday.
This time, it wasn’t because of an injury. It’s not that simple this time. Syndergaard is out after contracting hand, foot and mouth disease, possibly from working with children at a camp over the All-Star break.
It shouldn’t hold him out for more of a start, but it’s just another dizzying way to see an important Mets contributor sidelined.
But what is hand, foot and mouth disease?
According to the Mayo Clinic:
Hand-foot-and-mouth disease — a mild, contagious viral infection common in young children — is characterized by sores in the mouth and a rash on the hands and feet. Hand-foot-and-mouth disease is most commonly caused by a coxsackievirus… Hand-foot-and-mouth disease may cause all of the following signs and symptoms or just some of them. They include:
- Fever
- Sore throat
- Feeling of being unwell (malaise)
- Painful, red, blister-like lesions on the tongue, gums and inside of the cheeks
- A red rash, without itching but sometimes with blistering, on the palms, soles and sometimes the buttocks
- Irritability in infants and toddlers
- Loss of appetite
Syndergaard allowed just two runs in 10 innings of work during his brief stint back with the team, though he was only able to go five innings in each outing. He looked especially fatigued during his Jul. 20 start against the Yankees.
He can be added to the list of odd injuries that have sidelined major leaguers throughout the years, with two of the most recent odd cases coming from none other than the Mets.
In 2012, the Mets reported that promising first baseman Ike Davis contracted Valley Fever while rehabbing from a harmless-looking collision with David Wright. While he slugged 32 home runs in 2012, the disease took such a toll on his body that he hit just nine the next year and was never the same. He’s currently in the minor leagues trying to make a comeback as a pitcher.
Davis was the successor of Carlos Delgado at first base, the veteran power hitter hitting 100 home runs in three full seasons in New York. Coming off a 38 home-run campaign in 2008, Delgado hit the disabled list in May of 2009 in what was originally described as a hip ailment that would keep him out day-to-day. It turns out that a history of hip problems came to a head with this little twinge and he never appeared in Major League Baseball again.
Moving to the pitcher’s mound, the enigmatic Matt Harvey added a head-scratching health issue of his own to a laundry list of problems that ultimately cut his Mets career short. Preparing for the 2016 season, the Mets announced that Harvey had a procedure on his bladder after a clot formed in the area. The reason? He was holding in his urine for too long.
But could it top this list of zany MLB injuries? Probably not.
MLB injuries odder than foot, hand and mouth disease contracted by Noah Syndergaard
– In 1993, shortly after being traded to the Toronto Blue Jays, Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson fell asleep with an ice pack on his which resulted in a case of frostbite in the middle of August. He didn’t miss any time.
– Sammy Sosa (2004) and pitcher Mat Latos (2010) landed on the disabled list for sneezing just a bit too hard. Sosa injured his back while Latos hurt his side.
– After signing the first $100 million contract in MLB history, Yankees pitcher Kevin Brown broke two bones in his hand after punching a wall in 2004.
– Hall-of-Fame pitcher John Smoltz supposedly burned himself while ironing his shirt in 1990. Apparently, no one gave him the memo that he had to take the shirt off his body before ironing it. Instead, he sustained a nasty burn to his chest.
– Also in 1990, Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Glenallen Hill injured himself while sleeping. Hill suffers from arachnophobia and such a terrible nightmare about spiders, he jumped up in his sleep, crashed through a glass table and fell down the stairs, landing him on the 15-day DL.
– Detroit Tigers closer Joel Zumaya was one of the first fireballers in MLB history with a fastball that regularly topped 100 miles per hour. It 2006 though, the then-22-year-old injured his wrist and forearm while playing the popular video game “Guitar Hero,” forcing him to miss three games of the ALCS.
