The Mets announced that they have signed infielder Jared Young to a one-year major league contract. The club has multiple vacancies on its 40-man roster and won’t need to make a corresponding move for the Ball Players Agency client. Exact financial figures aren’t known but Will Sammon of The Athletic reports that it’s a split deal with “seven-figure upside.”
Young, 29, has struggled with strikeouts in his very limited major league career but has performed well in the minors and in Korea. In 2022 and 2023, he got into 22 games for the Cubs and stepped to the plate 69 times. He struck out in 29% of those appearances but tallied a few extra base hits and some walks, leading to a .210/.290/.435 line and wRC+ of 98.
He was claimed off waivers by the Cardinals after the 2023 campaign and then outrighted off their roster going into 2024. In July, he signed with the Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization. His stint in Korea seemed to go very well, as he hit 10 home runs in just 169 plate appearances over a 38-game stretch. He struck out 20.7% of the time while drawing walks at a 12.4% clip. That led to a .326/.420/.660 line and massive 172 wRC+.
His strong performance in Korea and his weak performance in the majors both come in fairly small sample sizes. His body of work in the minors is naturally larger and has been quite good. Over the past four years, he has 1,402 minor league plate appearances. In that time, he has an 11.3% walk rate, 21.5% strikeout rate, .274/.370/.488 batting line and 124 wRC+. Over the past two years, it has been a 13.7% walk rate, 20.7% strikeout rate, .299/.414/.547 line and 145 wRC+.
The Mets are apparently intrigued enough by those numbers to give Young a roster spot, though he still has options and can therefore be kept in Triple-A as a depth piece. Defensively, Young has lined up at all four infield spots, though his shortstop work consists of just nine innings at Low-A back in 2017. He’s also spent some time in the outfield corners, so perhaps there’s a path for Young to fill a utility role in Queens.
Pete Alonso is currently a free agent and could perhaps re-sign with the Mets. But under the current roster construction, Mark Vientos projects as the first baseman since he just had an offensive breakout but with poor glovework at third. Second base is also a bit of a question mark after an uneven season from Jeff McNeil. Guys like Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio or Luisangel Acuña could perhaps offers solutions at those spots but they’re not fully established majors leaguers yet. Young will give the Mets another option in that mix.
Young has less than a year of service time, which could mean the Mets can cheaply control him for years to come. However, players returning from stints overseas can often negotiate clauses in their contracts that allow them to return to the open market despite not having six years of service time. It’s unclear whether Young will definitely be a free agent again after 2025 or if the Mets can theoretically retain him as long as his service time clock is below six years.
