The Mets announced this evening that they’ve signed outfielder Edward Olivares to a minor league deal with an invite to MLB Spring Training. New York also confirmed their previously reported deals to bring outfielder Alex Ramírez and reliever Grant Hartwig back on non-roster pacts.
Olivares is the lone new acquisition of that trio. The righty-hitting outfielder has played for the Padres, Royals and Pirates over an MLB career spanning parts of five seasons. Almost half of his playing time came in 2023, when he appeared in 107 games for Kansas City. The Venezuelan outfielder hit .263/.317/.452 with 12 homers and 11 stolen bases over 385 plate appearances.
Despite the reasonable numbers, the Royals traded Olivares to Pittsburgh last winter. K.C.’s skepticism that he’d repeat his ’23 production was borne out. Olivares had a rough 55-game stint with the Bucs, hitting .224/.291/.333 with five homers. He was part of a very weak right field rotation until the Pirates designated him for assignment in early August. The Bucs hoped that deadline pickup Bryan De La Cruz would fix the position, but he also underperformed and was non-tendered last month.
Olivares has intermittently flashed intriguing physical tools. He has slightly above-average contact skills and owns a .254/.306/.407 batting line in nearly 1000 plate appearances. Olivares is a solid runner with plus arm strength. Despite solid athleticism, he grades as a below-average defender in the corners. He’ll vie for a rotational role in Carlos Mendoza’s outfield.
May end up a decent bench pickup now that he has left Pittsburgh, the place where hitters go to die.
I thought that place was Seattle?
Yeah, agree panj
If hitters didn’t already come with poor plate discipline and worse mechanics, their previous hitting coach would make sure they’d fall in line. If you tried to implode a batting order, you couldn’t do a better job
“Organizational depth”…someone has to play the outfield in Syracuse now that DJ Stewart is gone
Exactly. First thought I had.