MILWAUKEE — Luis Robert Jr. will get an opportunity to play for the Mets, at the expense of their two high-performing rookies.
Monday, that meant Carson Benge was on the bench, with Robert in center field and A.J. Ewing in right, as the Mets began a three-game series against the Brewers and lost 8-3.
Robert was activated from the injured list after being sidelined for 2 ¹/₂ months with a lumbar spine disc herniation.
His goals over the final two months of this season?
“To be healthy and out on that field as much as I possibly can,” he said through an interpreter. “The rest, from a performance standpoint, I think as long as I am on the field I will be OK.”
Robert began the night with a .224/.327/.329 slash line with two homers in 24 games this season.
Interim manager Andy Green said he expects Robert to play two out of every three days in center field — the Mets already have Jorge Polanco as a prime DH candidate and have used Juan Soto in that spot.
It’s possible the Mets will try to showcase Robert before the Aug. 3 trade deadline.
The Mets are set for a reunion Tuesday with Brandon Sproat, who was traded to the Brewers (with Jett Williams) in January for Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers.
Sproat has pitched to a 5.16 ERA in 18 appearances (16 as a starter) this season.
He debuted in the major leagues last season with the Mets and pitched to a 4.79 ERA in four starts.
“I think you never want to trade your prospects away when you run a farm system,” said Green, who oversaw the organization’s player development before stepping into the interim manager’s role last month. “Jett and Brandon were two guys we did like a lot … [Sproat] was a guy we drafted in the first round and liked the entire time we had him. Those were tough decisions, but when you are going to get a frontline starter, it always costs you something.”
Eric Wagaman was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse to create space on the 26-man roster for Robert.
Also, Zack Short was outrighted to Syracuse.
