The Mets announced that infielder/outfielder Ji Hwan Bae has been sent outright Triple-A Syracuse. When combined with the club losing Drew Romo via waivers to the White Sox, the Mets’ 40-man roster count dropped to 38 this week.
Bae, 26, has never played for the Mets. He spent his entire with the Pirates until being claimed by the Mets off waivers in November. The Mets also claimed Romo from the Orioles in December. With both players, it seems the plan was to put them back on the wire later to hopefully keep them as non-roster depth. It didn’t work with Romo but the Mets will keep Bae. This is his first career outright and he has less than three years of service time, so he doesn’t have the right to elect free agency.
He was once a notable prospect with the Bucs but he hasn’t fully delivered on that in the big leagues yet. He does have a decent floor due to some speed and defensive versatility. The offense has been good in the minors but hasn’t clicked in the majors.
The Pirates sent Bae to the plate 514 times over the past four seasons and he has produced a .223/.294/.293 line in those. But he stole 37 bases while playing both middle infield spots and all three outfield positions. In 2025, he exclusively played the outfield. In the minors, he stepped the plate 1,152 times from 2022 to 2025 with a .306/.390/.451 line and 126 wRC+.
Now that he has cleared waivers, the Mets can keep him around without him taking up a roster spot. If he earns his way back onto the roster at some point, he still has an option and less than two years of service time, meaning he can provide roster flexibility and years of affordable control. The Mets now have a couple of open roster spots to use for whatever they end up doing in the remainder of the offseason.
Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images
ily bae
Angels future 2nd baseman, he hits below .100
He ranked among pirates top 10-20 range prospects from 2020-2023. So some talent there
Take that figure with a grain of salt, as the Pirates have been unable to develop an impact position player in Cherington’s time here. The kid is very fast but he could never get on the basepaths
He also wasn’t great at baserunning. Like, running fast from point A to point B? Sure, fantastic, one of the best around. Taking leads, getting good jumps, knowing situationally when he should be running, not so much. Though that’s kind of a Pirate thing in general.
Anyone who plays in the majors has a lot of talent.
Yup! Any given season there’s maybe ~1,000 people in the world who can actually claim they’re good enough to make a MLB roster even for a day. It’s incredibly rare for even the best high school/college kid in his state to get drafted at all, let alone in an early round with a nice signing bonus, then even rarer still that they don’t wash out of the minor leagues.
Not a big deal, but it’s incorrect his entire career was with the pirates. He was one of the prospects the braves lost in the Coppy scandal, even though he never suited up for the bravos.
Another win for Dave-O. What a genius.
It was a minor move that has not prevented any move from happening. He DFAed him now while rosters are in flux to stash him in the minors as depth.
Don’t know why , maybe it’s the hair , the pirate connection , the list hitting , but I’ve always thought of him as a Japanese Cole Tucker lol
Which is especially weird since he’s Korean.
Yes I just realized I erred. Apologies
Get him back Atlanta! Reclaim what was taken from you. Feel free to not take Kevin Maitan back, he’s cheeks
Kid made some spectacular plays in cf, often because he started in the wrong direction. Can’t hit mlb breaking pitches and gets blown away by premium velocity. He should probably try Japan, Taiwan or his native Korea.
He deserves at least one more chance in MLB. His 2024 and 2025 stats are from a very small samples.
However, there is the suspension and assault charges…
Eh Bae Bae! Eh Bae Bae!