Rays Re-Sign Austin Slater To Minor League Deal
The Rays have re-signed veteran outfielder Austin Slater to a minor league contract, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The Ballengee Group client is headed to Triple-A Durham. Tampa Bay designated Slater for assignment earlier in the month, and he elected free agency after clearing waivers last week.
Slater went 6-for-22 with a pair of doubles, three steals, three walks and six strikeouts in 25 plate appearances with the Rays prior to his DFA. Tampa Bay marked the journeyman outfielder’s eighth major league team in the past three seasons alone.
Now 33 years old, Slater spent seven-plus seasons with the Giants to begin his career. He’s since bounced to the Reds, O’s, White Sox, Yankees, Marlins, Mets and Rays. He’s slashed just .215/.301/.308 in 446 big league plate appearances dating back to 2024.
Prior to this difficult stretch, Slater had a nice run in San Francisco as a short-side platoon bat. He’s a career .263/.353/.420 hitter against lefties, even including a downturn in production over the past three seasons. From 2020-23, Slater hit .259/.352/.421 in 942 trips to the plate. He played a decent corner outfield, though his overall defensive grades with the Giants are skewed by a 2022 season in which he logged a career-high 537 innings in center field out of necessity. He was stretched thin at the position then and is at best an emergency option there now; he played only three innings there in 2025 and hasn’t played center at all in 2026.
The Rays’ outfield mix currently has Cedric Mullins, Victor Mesa Jr. and Chandler Simpson as lefty-swinging options, with Ryan Vilade and Jonny DeLuca providing right-handed complements. Gavin Lux and Jake Fraley are both on the injured list. Prospect Jacob Melton missed significant time on the minor league injured list but has caught absolute fire of late and could soon push for a call to the majors — though he’d be yet another left-handed option.
Austin Slater Elects Free Agency
Outfielder Austin Slater has elected free agency after clearing waivers, reports Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times. Slater had been designated for assignment by the Rays last week. As a veteran with years of service time, he has the right to reject outright assignments in favor of the open market.
Slater, 33, has continued to get opportunities based on his reputation but he hasn’t been living up to that track record lately. At his best, he was a strong outfield defender who could mash lefty pitching. From 2020 to 2023, he stepped to the plate 942 times for the Giants and hit .259/.352/.421 for a 117 wRC+. That included a .285/.380/.486 line and 140 wRC+ against southpaws, compared to a .220/.308/.324 line and 82 wRC+ otherwise.
Though he was a limited player offensively, he got good grades in the field and stole 37 bases. FanGraphs credited him with 5.2 wins above replacement for that span of three full seasons and the shortened 2020 campaign.
Since then, however, he has a .215/.301/.308 line in 446 plate appearances. That includes a .205/.300/.305 line and 75 wRC+ in 300 trips to the plate against lefties. Clubs continue to hope for a bounceback, such that Slater has appeared for eight different teams dating back to the start of the 2024 season.
Three of those eight clubs have rostered him this year, which doesn’t even include the Tigers. He signed a minor league deal with Detroit in February but opted out of that deal at the end of camp when he wasn’t going to make the Opening Day roster. That led to a big league deal with the Marlins, a pact that paid Slater a $1MM salary. He didn’t even last a month with the Fish before being bumped off the roster and then released. He has since bounced to the Mets and Rays. He has a combined .231/.311/.277 line and 69 wRC+ for those three clubs.
Slater will once again be on the open market and searching for his next opportunity. Due to his recent struggles, he will probably have to settle for minor league offers. If he eventually works his way back to the majors somewhere, he would only need to be paid the prorated major league minimum salary. The Marlins are on the hook for the remainder of the $1MM salary. In the scenario where some other team rosters him and is paying him the league minimum for a while, that will subtract from what the Marlins owe.
Photo courtesy of Kirby Lee, Imagn Images
Rays Designate Austin Slater For Assignment
The Rays have designated veteran outfielder Austin Slater for assignment, per a club announcement. His spot on the roster goes to fellow outfielder Jonny DeLuca, who’s been reinstated from the injured list after missing nearly a month due to a hamstring strain. Tampa Bay now has 39 players on its 40-man roster.
Slater only appeared in seven games with the Rays prior to being DFA. He hit well in a small sample of 25 trips to the plate, going 6-for-22 with a pair of doubles, three walks, three steals and six strikeouts. Tampa Bay is already his third team of the season and, more incredibly, his eighth major league club dating back to 2024.
Slater spent the first seven-plus seasons of his major league career with the Giants, who originally drafted him out of Stanford with their eighth-round pick back in 2014. After getting cut loose in the Bay, he’s since bounced to the Reds, Orioles, White Sox, Yankees, Marlins, Mets and now Rays. Slater had a decent run as a lefty-mashing utilityman in San Francisco from 2020-23, but his bat has witted in recent seasons. Dating back to 2024, Slater carries just a .215/.301/.308 batting line in 446 MLB plate appearances.
Slater’s best skill has always been his ability to hit lefties, but even that trait has dried up during this down phase. He’s a career .263/.353/.420 hitter when holding the platoon advantage but has authored a weak .205/.300/.305 output versus southpaws since 2024.
The Rays will have five days to trade Slater, place him on outright waivers or release him. He can reject an outright assignment even he goes unclaimed. Another team with a need for some right-handed help off the bench might take a look, but Slater has already cleared waivers twice this season. He elected free agency both times and would presumably do so once again if he’s not claimed this time around.
Rays To Select Austin Slater
1:20pm: The Rays have officially announced Slater’s addition to the roster. Heasley was transferred to the 60-day IL as the corresponding 40-man move. To open an active roster spot, infielder Oliver Dunn has been optioned to Triple-A Durham.
9:55am: The Rays will select the contract of outfielder Austin Slater from Triple-A Durham, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Slater signed a minor league deal with Tampa Bay late last month but is now headed to the major league club as the Rays gear up for a slate of left-handed pitchers.
Tampa Bay will need to open a 40-man spot for Slater. Righty Jon Heasley, who was recently diagnosed with a stress reaction in his elbow and placed on the 15-day IL, seems like a potential 60-day IL candidate. Outfielder Jake Fraley underwent a hernia procedure last month that came with a recovery timetable of six to eight weeks and could be a candidate as well, if the team feels his recovery will skew toward the lengthier end of that window.
Slater, 33, has already played with two different teams this season and seven over the past three seasons combined. He’s been hitting well in Durham, going 8-for-23 with five doubles, a homer, five walks and six strikeouts in 28 trips to the plate (.348/.464/.696).
Slater has taken 49 major league plate appearances between the Marlins and Mets this season, and they haven’t gone well. He’s 8-for-43 with only one extra-base hit (a double) and three times as many strikeouts (15) as walks (five). Broadly speaking, his past three seasons in the majors have been a struggle — hence the frequent changes of address. He’s taken 421 plate appearances in the bigs since Opening Day 2024 and slashed just .212/.298/.304.
Even with that lackluster run, however, Slater is still a lifetime .263/.352/.420 hitter in 1067 plate appearances against left-handed pitching. The Rays will face Red Sox left-hander Connelly Early tonight and are slated to face fellow southpaw Payton Tolle tomorrow. The Angels’ rotation is in disarray, so it’s hard to gauge exactly who’ll be starting for them next weekend when the Rays visit Anaheim. They’ll miss lefty Reid Detmers, barring a shuffle of the current order, but the Halos currently have five lefties in the bullpen. That should lead to plenty of chances for Slater to contribute off the bench or perhaps in the starting lineup if the Angels opt for bullpen games with a lefty opener and/or bulk reliever (e.g. Mitch Farris, Sam Aldegheri).
Rays, Austin Slater Agree To Minor League Deal
The Rays are signing outfielder Austin Slater to a minor league contract, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The Ballengee Group client elected free agency yesterday after being outrighted by the Mets.
Slater is on his fourth organization of the 2026 season. He was in camp with the Tigers this spring. Granted his release shortly before Opening Day, Slater commanded an MLB contract from the Marlins. He spent a couple weeks with Miami but was outrighted off the roster in late April. Slater signed another big league deal almost immediately, replacing Tommy Pham in the New York outfield.
The Jacksonville native has appeared in 21 combined games, just over half of them starts. He’s hitting .209 with only one extra-base knock (a double) while striking out 15 times in 49 plate appearances. Slater hasn’t hit much over the past couple seasons, pushing him into a journeyman role after a half-decade run as a decent complementary outfielder with the Giants. Since the start of 2024, he carries a .212/.298/.304 line in 421 plate appearances divided between seven teams.
Slater made a living of mashing left-handed pitching during his time with San Francisco. He hasn’t hit well against pitchers of either handedness over the past couple seasons. He remains an above-average runner and competent corner outfield defender though.
It’s a sensible pickup for a team that has taken a couple hits to an already lackluster outfield over the past week. Jake Fraley and Jonny DeLuca will probably be out into July due to sports hernia surgery and a hamstring strain, respectively. That pushed Victor Mesa Jr. up from Triple-A Durham. Jacob Melton, their only other outfielder on the 40-man roster, hasn’t played in a month due to a left ankle sprain. Slater would probably be the next outfielder up if anyone else from the MLB roster suffers an injury.
Austin Slater Elects Free Agency
Outfielder Austin Slater has elected free agency, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The Mets had sent him outright to Triple-A Syracuse a few days ago but he has exercised his right to reject that assignment and head to the open market instead.
If a player has at least five years of big league service time, he has the right to reject an outright assignment while also keeping his salary commitments in tact. The Marlins signed Slater in late March, after the Tigers had granted him his release from a minor league contract. The Miami deal was a major league pact with a $1MM salary. The Fish cut bait less than a month into the season, designating Slater for assignment. He cleared waivers and elected free agency.
The Fish remain on the hook for the remainder of that salary. Other teams can sign Slater and only pay him the prorated portion of the league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the Marlins pay. The Mets stepped up to volunteer for that opportunity but they also bumped Slater off their roster after less than a month. Between the two clubs, he has a rough .209/.286/.233 line on the year.
Other clubs may still be interested in him based on his track record. Slater has a decent floor from his speed and defense. In over 3,000 outfield innings in his big league career, spread across all three spots on the grass, he’s been credited with six Outs Above Average. On the whole, Defensive Runs Saved has him just a hair below average, but mostly due to that metric considering him subpar in center. He has five DRS in right field and four in left, with over 1,000 innings in each corner. Though he’s now 33 years old, Statcast still pegs his sprint speed in the 66th percentile of qualified big leaguers this year.
Offensively, Slater has been around league average in his career, but with caveats. A right-handed bat, he has done most of his damage against lefties. He has a .263/.352/.420 line and 115 wRC+ with the platoon advantage in his career but a .228/.313/.331 line and 81 wRC+ in the other half of the split. He has also seen his overall production decline lately. From 2020 to 2023, he slashed .259/.352/.421 for a 117 wRC+, regardless of pitcher handedness. Since then, he has a .212/.298/.304 line and 74 wRC+.
Despite the declining numbers, there is some lingering interest. The Yankees liked him enough to trade for him at last year’s deadline. He had to settle for a minor league deal in the winter but looked good in spring, hitting .267/.389/.467, and quickly got himself a big league pact. He hasn’t been able to carry that over into the season but his résumé should still be enough to at least get him a minor league deal somewhere, if not a major league one.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Outrighted To Triple-A: Slater, Blach, Brooks
Catching up on some players recently designated for assignment…
- The Mets outrighted outfielder Austin Slater to Triple-A Syracuse, as per Slater’s MLB.com profile page. There isn’t yet any word on whether or not Slater will accept the assignment, as Slater has the ability to elect free agency rather than report to Triple-A and remain in the Mets organization. Since he has more than five years of MLB service time, Slater can become a free agent while still keeping the $1MM he is guaranteed in 2026, as per the terms of the contract he signed with the Marlins just before the season began. Over 49 combined PA with Miami and New York, Slater has hit only .209/.286/.233 with just one extra-base hit.
- Ty Blach cleared waivers and was outrighted to the Cubs‘ Triple-A Iowa affiliate, according to the left-hander’s MLB.com profile page. Chicago selected Blach’s contract to the active roster last weekend but DFA’ed him two days later, after Blach tossed three shutout innings of relief work in the Cubs’ 9-3 loss to the Brewers on Monday. That cup of coffee represented Blach’s first bit of MLB work since 2024, and he now has the option of rejecting the outright assignment in favor of free agency or returning to Iowa. Given the ongoing injury woes on the Cubs’ pitching staff, Blach might prefer to stay put, as another call to the majors might come sooner rather than later.
- Aaron Brooks pitched for Triple-A Durham yesterday, indicating that the right-hander accepted his outright assignment to the Rays‘ top affiliate. Brooks was outrighted last Sunday and he had the ability to elect free agency, but it looks like the righty has opted to stay in Tampa’s organization. Like Blach, Brooks was also making his first MLB appearance since 2024 in his own one-game cameo back in the Show, though Brooks’ lone outing was much rockier. He was charged with three earned runs in one-third of an inning of work in the Rays’ 5-3 loss to the Blue Jays on May 13.
Mets To Designate Austin Slater For Assignment
The Mets are expected to designate outfielder Austin Slater for assignment, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The veteran latched on with New York in late April after getting DFAed by the Marlins. The team has yet to announce the move.
Slater took the spot of another well-traveled outfielder, joining the club when Tommy Pham was designated for assignment. The Mets were Slater’s third team in a little over a month. He opted out of a minor league deal with the Tigers before signing with the Marlins. After a dozen games in Miami, the outfielder lasted just nine games in New York.
A platoon bat for much of his career, Slater has just four plate appearances against right-handed pitching this season. He picked up two hits in those chances. The veteran scuffled against lefties, posting a .444 OPS with a bloated 33.3% strikeout rate.
Slater’s skillset is somewhat duplicative of Tyrone Taylor‘s contributions, and he doesn’t offer the same defensive ability. With A.J. Ewing emerging as an everyday option in the outfield, the Mets didn’t need two right-handed bench outfielders. Slater will now head back through the DFA process. If the Mets don’t find a trade partner, and no club claims him, the veteran can forego a minor league assignment and choose free agency. That’s how he landed with the Mets after departing the Marlins.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Mets Sign Austin Slater, Designate Tommy Pham For Assignment
The Mets have agreed to sign outfielder Austin Slater, The Athletic’s Will Sammon reports. Slater’s signing comes shortly after news broke that outfielder Tommy Pham was designated for assignment, as per Mike Puma of the New York Post. It can be assumed that Slater will take Pham’s spot on the active roster and 40-man roster, though New York still has only 39 players on the 40-man even with Slater’s arrival.
Slater is now on his third team in a little over a month’s time. The Tigers signed Slater to a minor league contract over the offseason, and after Slater triggered the first mandatory opt-out clause in that contract at the end of camp, Detroit released the veteran rather than add him to the Opening Day roster. Slater then quickly landed with the Marlins on a one-year, $1MM guarantee, but was designated for assignment after 12 games.
It was just earlier today that Slater cleared waivers and he elected to become a free agent. Because he has more than five years of MLB service time, Slater can keep the remainder of that $1MM salary, so the Mets might just be paying him a prorated big league minimum salary (which is subtracted from the $1MM total, with the Marlins covering the rest).
Slater hit only .174/.286/.174 over his 28 PA in a Miami uniform, though that is still better than Pham’s numbers in a similarly small sample size with the Mets. Assuming that the DFA will end Pham’s tenure in Queens, Pham will conclude his nine-game stint with zero hits and just a single walk over 14 plate appearances.
New York signed Pham to a minor league contract right at the start of the season and then selected him to the active roster on April 13. His long stay in free agency meant that the veteran didn’t get any sort of traditional Spring Training, though he got some ramp-up time in the Mets’ extended spring camp and five games of single-A ball with the team’s St. Lucie affiliate. While 14 PA isn’t a huge sample, it is safe to wonder if Pham simply wasn’t yet ready to face big league pitching, notwithstanding the fact that Pham has plenty of experience as a 13-year MLB veteran.
The selection to New York’s roster locked in a prorated $2.25MM salary for Pham in 2026. Another team would absorb the remainder of that salary if Pham is claimed off waivers, but the likelier scenario is that Pham goes unclaimed, leaving the Mets on the hook for the remaining money no matter what the next step is in Pham’s career.
He has more than enough MLB service time to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, though it’s possible Pham might accept an outright just to get more playing time in the Mets’ farm system, with a handshake agreement in place to recall Pham once he is fully ramped up. However, the Slater signing probably means Pham’s time in New York is over, and he’ll be released if he isn’t claimed. A new team could then sign Pham to a contract and only owe him a minimum salary, which is subtracted from the Mets’ $2.25MM figure.
Pham and Slater are both right-handed hitting outfielders, and Slater has more of a reputation as a lefty-masher even though his numbers against southpaws have been average to mediocre over the last three seasons. Pham has also not been particularly productive since 2023 (a season that included his first stint with the Mets), as he hit .246/.317/.369 over 927 PA with the White Sox, Cardinals, Royals, and Pirates in 2024-25.
With 10 different teams on his big league resume, Pham might well land with team #11 in relatively short order, or perhaps revisit another of his former organizations. Slater spent his entire Major League career with the Giants before the team dealt him to the Reds in July 2024, and Slater has since also become a journeyman who has now played for six different clubs at the MLB level.
Slater should slide right into Pham’s role as the complement to the left-handed hitting Carson Benge, who has yet to get going at the plate in his rookie season. Benge’s struggles are just one drop in the bucket of calamity that has been the 2026 Mets’ season, as the team has sunk to a 9-19 record (tied with the Phillies for the worst in baseball) after being swept by Colorado in today’s doubleheader.
Austin Slater Clears Waivers, Elects Free Agency
April 26th: Slater has cleared waivers and elected free agency, per Mish.
April 23rd: The Marlins made the Slater and Ruiz moves official today.
April 22nd: The Marlins are designating veteran outfielder Austin Slater for assignment, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid. Esteury Ruiz has played four Triple-A games on a minor league rehab stint and will be activated for Friday’s series opener in San Francisco. Miami’s 40-man roster count will drop to 39.
Slater signed a $1MM free agent contract at the end of Spring Training. He had been in camp on a minor league deal with Detroit but didn’t crack their roster. The Fish wanted a righty-hitting platoon outfielder with Ruiz shelved by an oblique strain and starting left fielder Kyle Stowers down with a hamstring strain. Stowers returned over the weekend, and Ruiz’s forthcoming return pushes Slater off the roster.
It wasn’t a great showing for the 33-year-old Slater. He played in 12 games and collected just four hits, all of them singles. He took four walks but struck out nine times in 28 plate appearances. Slater has pinch hit a few times but hasn’t been in Clayton McCullough’s starting lineup since April 12. Heriberto Hernández gets some work as a righty-hitting left fielder. Utilityman Javier Sanoja can also play out there.
Ruiz, an offseason trade pickup from the Dodgers, adds a speed element off the bench. He hasn’t hit much in the big leagues but raked in Triple-A last year. Ruiz stole 67 bases for the A’s back in 2023, his only full season at the MLB level.
Miami has five days to trade Slater or place him on waivers. He has sufficient service time to decline an outright assignment and seems likely to be released.