Mets sign former Yankee Luke Voit to minor-league deal
The Brewers' Luke Voit is greeted by a teammate after scoring during the second inning against the Mariners on April 17 in Seattlee. Credit: AP/Lindsey Wasson
The Mets have signed first baseman/designated hitter Luke Voit, who with the Yankees led the majors in home runs during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, to a minor-league contract, the team announced Monday.
He will join Triple-A Syracuse on Tuesday.
Without Pete Alonso until at least late June because of a left wrist bone bruise/sprain, the Mets added Voit as a depth piece. They have struggled to find production from the DH spot — especially from righthanded hitters — so with a strong showing in the minors, Voit has a shot to get called up.
Voit, 32, has spent parts of seven seasons in the majors, batting .253 with an .807 OPS. In 22 games for the Brewers this season, those numbers were down to .221 and .548. He led MLB with 22 homers in 213 at-bats (56 games) in 2020.
Milwaukee dropped him in late May after he in effect lost his roster spot to Darin Ruf, whom the Mets cut at the end of spring training. (Ruf subsequently suffered a significant knee injury last week.)
Vasil promoted
The Mets promoted righthander Mike Vasil to Syracuse.
Emerging as the organization’s closest-to-the-majors starting pitcher prospect, Vasil had a 3.71 ERA and 0.84 WHIP in 10 starts with Double-A Binghamton. He struck out 57 and walked eight in 51 innings.
Vasil, 23, was the Mets’ eighth-round draft pick in 2021. Manager Buck Showalter and other members of the major-league staff praised his ability and demeanor during a one-game cameo in spring training.
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
