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NEW YORK (AP) — Mets manager Terry Collins isn't thinking about shifting Michael Conforto to first base because of Lucas Duda's back injury.
"As I've tried to gingerly say it, this isn't high school where you put the fat kid over at first," Collins said Friday. "This is an athletic position. They're in a lot of action. There's a lot of things going on, and right now Michael's got a lot on his plate. I don't need to add more to it."
Duda was put on the disabled list Monday because of a stress fracture in his lower back, an injury the Mets say will sideline him four-to-six weeks at a minimum.
Eric Campbell started at first for the fourth straight game in Friday's homestand opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Wilmer Flores will be a first-base option when he returns from Double-A Binghamton where he is on an injury rehabilitation assignment with a strained left hamstring,
"He worked there enough in spring training. He's had two or three games already this year over there," Collins said. "If he can catch a grounder and flip it to the pitcher, he'll be fine."
Conforto, an outfielder who made his big league debut last July, is not an option.
"We are not here to take a kid who's never played first base at the major league level in a situation where we're expected to win a lot, and put an inexperienced guy in a tough position," Collins said.
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