The Mets have claimed catcher Drew Romo off waivers from the Orioles and, in a corresponding move, designated left-hander Brandon Waddell for assignment, per a team announcement. Baltimore designated Romo for assignment last week.
The 24-year-old Romo was the No. 35 overall draft pick by the Rockies back in 2020 and previously ranked not only as one of Colorado’s best prospects but one of the top 100 prospects in Major League Baseball. He’s a well-regarded defender with a cannon of an arm, but Romo’s bat stalled out after a solid 2023 season split mostly between High-A and Double-A. His offensive output has declined in consecutive seasons. After a league-average offensive showing at Triple-A in 2024, his bat dwindled in 2025 as his strikeout rate ballooned from 17.8% to 25.8%.
Romo has gotten some brief looks in the majors with the Rox but has just 56 plate appearances under his belt. He’s a .167/.196/.222 hitter with a 37.5% strikeout rate in that minuscule sample. Romo carries a solid-looking .286/.337/.466 slash in parts of three Triple-A seasons, but that’s propped up a bit by his stronger 2024 performance. In 2025, he hit .264/.329/.409 with the Rockies’ top affiliate. Again, that looks solid on the surface, but given the immensely hitter-friendly environments in the Pacific Coast League — Albuquerque, in particular — Romo was actually 25% worse than a league-average hitter, by measure of wRC+.
Romo still has a pair of minor league option years remaining, so he’ll give the Mets some flexible depth behind the plate. He has a long way to go in terms of offensive development, but a good defender with a plus arm is a nice third or fourth catcher to be able to stash in Triple-A alongside Hayden Senger. Francisco Alvarez, of course, is the starter in Queens and is slated to be backed up by journeyman Luis Torrens in 2026.
Waddell, 31, tossed 31 1/3 innings with the Mets in 2025 — his first big league look since 2021. That came on the back of a three-year stint with the Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization, where he generally pitched well out of the Bears’ rotation. Waddell’s MLB return produced a nice 3.45 ERA, though his poor strikeout rate (16.4%), good-not-great command (8.2% walk rate) and good fortune in terms of both strand rate (82%) and balls in play (.260 BABIP) caused metrics like SIERA (4.64) and FIP (4.54) to take a more bearish outlook.
Waddell is out of minor league options. He sat 90.7 mph with his four-seamer last year and coupled the pitch with a sinker of comparable velocity and a changeup and slider in the low 80s. The former fifth-rounder out of the University of Virginia tossed 244 2/3 innings of 2.98 ERA ball during his time in the KBO and also had a nice 12-start run in Taiwan’s CPBL in 2023. He’s spent parts of five seasons pitching in Triple-A and has an ERA north of 5.00 there, although that was skewed by a 2019 season in which he yielded 59 runs in 61 frames. He’s posted a 4.22 ERA at the Triple-A level since.
Waddell will be traded to another club or placed on outright waivers within the next five days. Waivers are a 48-hour process. His DFA will be resolved within a week’s time.
Would be pretty funny if the move for signing Weaver is designating Romo
Would be fun to see Brewers’ LHP Drew Rom pitch to Drew Romo either as the catcher or the batter.
Okay. I think someone will claim Waddelll
Agreed. Lefty, can go multiple inning, or even spot start. That said, the Mets claim of Cooper Criswell made Waddell redundant. And with Williams and Weaver now back-stopping the pen, both Minter and Raley are available to come in at any time, thus eliminating the need for another lefty.
I really hoped Romo would slip through waivers but kind of knew that he wouldn’t. Oh well.
Romo was claimed to replace Dave Raccanello.
Carlos Mendoza will not have any of his staff back, including the longtime bullpen catcher. Dave was too much of a fan favorite to stay.
Hayden Senger is currently not on the Syracuse Mets roster. He is on the NY Mets 26 man roster. Syracuse has only Kevin Parada on the roster at catcher.
Senger is on the 40 man yes, but barring an injury, will not be on the 26 man roster by opening day as it stands
You are half right. Which means you are also half wrong. Senger is not on the Mets 26-man roster. He is on the 40-man roster. All players on the 40-man roster are regarded as major leaguers in the off season, and there is no 26-man roster at this time. As such, none of them would appear on the AAA roster But that does not inherently mean Senger is a AAA catcher. And I’m not sure why you bring it up anyway. The article does not specify which roster Senge is currently on. It merely says Romo would be stashed at AAA with Senger. My guess is we could all end up being wrong and Senger could (now) be a DFA candidate to make room for Luke Weaver.
I brought it up for informationally. I’m not trying to call out the author. It was merely a statement of fact. Much the way you have given out information about the status of players on the 40 man roster. Syracuse does, at times, carry 3 catchers. But I was unaware that the players on the 40 man roster wouldn’t be listed on the AAA roster. I appreciate the clarification. Our 40 man roster, as we speak, may include guys who are actually on the 60 day IL. We may actually have room for Weaver right now. Scott, and Megill are currently listed, but I am sure he, and probably Scott are still on the 60 day IL.
As far as the 60-day IL goes, it’s not available until February 11th when pitchers and catchers report. So a move would still have to be made for Weaver. Also, keep in mind that the 60 day clock doesn’t start until opening day.
You can’t use the 60 day IL during the offseason everyone on that list must be placed on the 40 man and protected for the rule 5 draft, or conversely DFAd to create 40 man space if you wanted to protect others instead. Even if Scott is hurt, for example, he needs to be on the 40 man or the Mets risk losing him they can’t hide him on the IL
Sorry to clarify the draft already happened but it’s still the offseason and the IL is inactive until spring.
Thank you for the clarifications Chris and D2323. Much appreciated.
Boom. Stearns is rocking it.
You should see Romo’s cannon arm on throwbacks to the pitcher
Exactly. Slow pitch softball pitchers have bigger cannons.
He has fixed the previous lobs back to the pitcher. It all started in lower minors when the pitcher turned away, causing a double-pump. The lobs looked silly in Romo’s MLB debut, but it is now solved. Honest. Trust me.
Mets look good.
Will Romo be ahead of Senger as a replacement in case of injury to Alvarez or Torrens?
He likely won’t even be on the Mets roster by the end of January. Fringe guys like Romo, too unproven to keep…too good to ignore, often float between 4-5 teams during the off season. Romo is only on team #3 so far.