Wearing No. 29, batting lefthanded, tall guy with some power–it’s not Ike Davis (or Dave Magadan). It’s Jared Young! A journeyman slugger from Canada, Young suddenly appeared as the regular DH one day and hasn’t stopped playing since (at least against right handers). I will give earwitness testimony that his home run in Citi Field on Tuesday was the loudest shot in an inning full of loud shots. He hits the ball hard.
It’d be foolish to think Young is a sudden everyday big leaguer after a nine-year career with parts of all of them in minors (save for one season in Korea) but he’s the first real upside surprise of 2025, at least on the offensive side, and that’s a good thing when your team is dragging around Francisco Alvarez and Mark Vientos. He really reminds me a bit of MBTN favorite Kelvin Torve, also a lefty minor-league vet who got off to a hot start in Queens.
Elsewhere on the transaction front we’ve seen a shuffling of back-end relief workers. At the moment, Chris Devenski (49) is back up with the Mets and Brandon Waddell (82) is down. Waddell got smacked around by the White Sox the other day but leaves the Mets with a lone lefty in the bullpen. Genesis Cabrera (92) and Jose Azocar (28), cashiered for Waddell and Young, respectively, refused to participate in another go-round in Syracuse and found themselves new employers. Cabrera signed with the Cubs and Azocar is with the Braves.
The next big shakeup for the Mets could come when the pitchers start returning from the disabled list. Paul Blackburn is expected today.
The most recent round of callups produced the first-ever 82 and 92 in team history. Brandon Waddell, a journeyman lefty showed up on my TV wearing No. 82, the same number he was assigned in spring training as a non-roster invitee. A couple of days later, another NRI lefty, Genesis Cabrera, showed up wearing the 92 he’d worn this spring.
The activity was part of a flurry of moves set into motion when AJ Minter went onto the injured list April 27 and intensified when Danny Young joined him there April 30. To make the Mets whole again they’ve since welcomed and/or sent back Waddell and Cabrara, plus Kevin Herget (57), Jose Urena (54, already a member of the Blue Jays), and Chris Devenski (49). Ty Adcock and Austin Warren were summoned but not used before being sent down. Adcock was assigned the same 52 he had last year; Warren held onto the 44 he had in spring).
Dedneil Nunez (72) returned in the meantime, looking rusty, and starting prospect Blade Tidwell was up and back wearing No. 40