The Mets signed veteran outfielder — and former Met — Travis Jankowski to a minor league deal, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. The Excel Sports client will head to Triple-A Syracuse for the time being.
Jankowski was placed on waivers by the Rays earlier this month. He went unclaimed and elected free agency, as is his right as a player with more than more than three years of service (more than eight, in Jankowski’s case). His time with Tampa Bay, during which he batted .244/.286/.289 in 49 plate appearances, gives him at least some level of big league action in 11 consecutive seasons.
Though he crossed eight years of MLB service during that Rays stint, Jankowski has never been a regular in the majors. He played a career-high 131 games with the 2016 Padres but did so in a limited, part-time role (383 plate appearances). He’s never topped the 387 plate appearances he logged with the 2018 Padres and has a total of 805 plate appearances over the past seven MLB seasons.
Jankowski is a career .236/.318/.305 hitter. He has negligible power and a league-average strikeout rate but draws plenty of walks, runs well and can play solid defense at all three outfield positions. He’s a nice fourth or fifth outfielder who’ll head to Triple-A and see if an opportunity opens up with the Mets’ big league squad, where Brandon Nimmo, Tyrone Taylor and Juan Soto are currently the main outfield options.
Both Jared Young and Starling Marte can technically play in the outfield, but they have four combined appearances on the grass this season. Outfielders Jose Siri and Jesse Winker are currently on the injured list (although the latter has primarily been a designated hitter). Jeff McNeil is effectively the Mets’ fourth outfielder at the moment. He’s logged 96 innings in the outfield, including 49 in center.
Jankowski was with the Mets back in 2022 but went just 9-for-44, with all nine of those hits being singles. That came out to a .167/.286/.167 batting line, but he could find himself with the opportunity to make a more lasting impression this time around, should the Mets incur an outfield injury or opt to move McNeil back to second base on a full-time basis.
If you’re down an OF, you could do a heck of a lot worse than Travis Jankowski. I’ll take him as a 4th OF all 7 days of the week.
A very solid player with good defense, good baserunning and who always manages to chip in a hit or good defensive play every now and again.
4th outfielder on my AAA team. I wish him well and hope he gets some of that MLB salary but he doesn’t hit enough to be a good 4th outfielder.
I agree and give the Mets credit. They’re a legitimate title contender, and depth moves like this will keep them afloat if and when the injury bug bites.
Only fun to see Travis and Luisangel race against each other to see who is faster circling the bases
4th OF is overstating his credentials by a lot. Depth piece who can fill in as a 5th OF is exactly what he is and where he belongs. He had a career year with Texas a few years ago, but that’s all it was – one career year.
With Acuna mostly used as a pinch runner its time to get him regular ABs at AAA – and recall Janky to Flushing.
That’s a fair point. In the immediate short term, they may feel a need to give Lindor a day off here and there while his toe recovers. And in the longer term, Siri (out of options) might be back for that role.
That said, I’m wondering if this signing is because they know Siri will be out longer than previously suggested.
Luisangel can play infield or outfield, Travis cannot play infield to my knowledge
LFGMets in 5-4-3-2-1…
Big miss by the Friars guess they’ll keep going with the guy who can’t track regular fly balls like last night
Feels like a trade is in the works…
Solid role player for the 2023 WS Rangers
And what of Mr Siri? He seems like the odd man out with Taylor’s play, McNeil’s occasional CF start, and Acuna as a possible CF,
Dude broke his leg, they still don’t know if he’ll be back this year
Meh. non-issue. Multiple ways to resolve that question. Acuna hasn’t played enough CF to be given anything more than a spot duty. He’s not the elite defender there that Siri is. And he hasn’t been hitting so much that he has to stay here rather than be optioned. If Taylor continues to play this well, there’s no reason Siri cannot be used as the 4th or 5th OF. We have no idea how well or badly Nimmo’s foot and leg issues are being managed and affecting his performance. He can get more time at DH or off.
Marte is producing now. But if he stops, he’ll be dumped one way or the other. Not to mention that we still have no idea when Siri is coming back anyway.
One of my favorite players. Got his own AthleteLogos.com t-shirt a few years back.
The Mets have the prospects and the money to go get anyone at all cost. Go get Reynolds and Skenes from the Pirates. The time is now for the team in Queens. Any prospects should be considered.
Skenes is probably untouchable. The Pirates won’t trade him while he is still not eligible for arbitration, and maybe not for another year or two after.
And I’m not burning my future on Reynolds, who has become a very uncertain proposition. He’s having a bad year, and his peak seems to have been four years ago. He’s crossed the 30 threshold.
If the Red Sox sell, I would rather see them get Duran and Chapman. Pair him with Diaz and the setup guys like Brazoban and Garrett and build a lockdown bullpen.
Who cares about beating the Mets?
Nobody can do that very easily or often at the moment.
Pretty much every team that the Mets keep beating
I liked him with the Mets back then and I like it again now. He contributes.
Janky’s not a 4th/5th OFer on a contender. (Who’s writing these articles these days?) He’s more the 5th OFer’s 3rd backup, and he’ll get 20 PA at some point if the Mets don’t want to burn service time on someone like Jett Williams, or don’t want to play Acuna or Mauricio in the OF at this point..
It’s difficult to overlook the 52 OPS+ since the end of the 2023 season.
Yeah, Jack. We can simplify that to four little words: minor league depth piece. Its dumbfounding how few people seem to recognize or understand that simple and common baseball reality.