The Mets announced Friday that they’ve signed catcher Jakson Reetz to a minor league deal. He’s been invited to major league spring training. Reetz is a client of Warner Sports Management.
Reetz, 28, spent the 2024 season in the Giants organization. He appeared in only six big league games, homering once in 15 plate appearances, but spent the majority of his season in Triple-A. That marked his second straight year with the Giants’ top affiliate in Sacramento. He slashed .254/.368/.431 with five round-trippers and 20 doubles in 58 games/235 plate appearances.
A third-round pick by the Nationals back in 2014, Reetz once ranked among Washington’s top 10-20 prospects but has settled into journeyman status. He’s played for four different organizations in the past four years, spending time with the Nats, Royals, Brewers, Giants and now the Mets. Reetz popped 22 homers in just 63 games for the Brewers’ Double-A affiliate in 2022, but he sports a more tepid .241/.338/.467 slash in parts of four Triple-A seasons.
The Mets currently have Francisco Alvarez and non-tender candidate Luis Torrens atop their catching depth chart. Former first-round pick Kevin Parada has seen his stock drop since being drafted 11th overall out of Georgia Tech in 2022, as he’s yet to show any offensive production above the High-A level. Parada spent the 2024 season in Double-A and hit just .214/.304/.359 in 114 games — only a moderate improvement over the .185/.250/.389 slash he posted in 60 plate appearances there late in the 2023 season.
Reetz will add some experienced catching depth to compete for a backup role in spring training or to serve as a depth option in Triple-A. If he indeed heads to Syracuse, he could be the next man up in the event of an injury on the MLB staff, so the Mets don’t feel obligated to rush Parada when his development is clearly still a work in progress. With such little certainty beyond Alvarez, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Mets add further catching depth throughout the offseason.
Mets are puttin’ on the Reetz.
Torrens is NOT close to being non tendered. They keep repeating an uninformed narrative
Yeah, I don’t see them letting him go.
He’s a very adequate backup
This seems to be a talking point of the commentariat…why anyone would dump a $1.1mm backup C who performs at/above average is beyond me…
I agree that he’s not going anywhere. To be fair and accurate, they never said he was close to being non-tendered. The article listing possible non-tenders specifically stated that many of those lister were only a 10 to 20% chance of getting non-tendered.
This deal reetz.
It doesn’t hurt to have some depth, but I will feel more comfortable when they re-sign the Polar Bear and add some decent pitching.