Francisco Mejia Accepts Outright Assignment With Ray

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Catcher , whom the Rays designated for a signment last week, has accepted an outright a signment to Triple-A Durham after clearing waivers and will remain with the organization, Marc Topkin of Geoff Hartlieb Jersey the Tampa Bay Times. As a player with more than five years of service time, Mejia couldve rejected that a signment in favor of free agency and still retained the remainder of this years $2.2MM salary, but hell opt to remain with the Rays and hope for a call back to the big leagues. If hes not added back to the 40-man roster between now and seasons end, Mejia can become a free agent to begin the offseason. Mejia, 27, was once regarded as one of the top prospects in all of baseball but has not yet seen his offense in the big leagues match his prodigious output in the upper minors. The switch-hitter is a .304/.348/.507 hitter in parts of three Triple-A seasons, but the former San Diego and Cleveland farmhand has produced just a .239/.284/.394 batting line in 1098 plate appearances between his three organizations. Cleveland flipped him to San Diego as part of the 2018 trade, while the Friars sent him to Tampa Bay as part of 2020s trade. While Mejia showed some promise in 2021, hitting .260/.322/.416 in his first season with the Rays, hes batted .237/.262/.387 in 143 games since that time. Hes regularly drawn below-average framing grades, and this year hes thwarted just four of the 42 stolen base attempts against him. Dating back to the 2018 season, 61st of 75 qualified catchers in terms of pitch blocking (-14 blocks above average). With Mejia now off the 40-man roster (but still in the organization), the Rays are going with the light-hitting but defensively superior tandem of and behind the plate. Mejia will now be the primary fallback option for that pair, and with rosters set to expand to 28 players on Sept. 1, it could be easier to get him back on the big league roster if the organization wishes to do so. Nolan Jones Jersey