Travis Blankenhorn becomes newest member of Mets' bench mob

PHOENIX — The Mets’ revolving-door roster spun again Tuesday.

They claimed infielder Travis Blankenhorn off waivers from the Mariners and added him to the 26-man roster, an upgrade that offers depth at multiple positions — and, if needed, can be stashed in the minors.

Blankenhorn, 24, mostly has played second and third and dabbled in leftfield in six seasons in the minors.

"You always want a guy who can give you that versatility," manager Luis Rojas said Tuesday afternoon, before he even had a chance to meet his newest player. "There’s other ways to be used. Come in and pinch run, stay in the game in a double switch, maybe a pinch hit. So there’s different usages. Just watching him and some of the videos and studying his history, that’s what I got."

Blankenhorn has some power and some speed, averaging 14 homers and 10 steals per season in 2017-19.

All of his 10 career Triple-A games came this year with three teams. He has two major-league appearances — one last year and one this year, both with the Twins — and can be optioned to the minors.

The Mets became Blankenhorn’s fourth organization in 19 days. He bounced from the Twins to the Dodgers to the Mariners last month, on waivers each time.

Expendable because of this addition, infielder Wilfredo Tovar was designated for assignment, making room on the 40-man and 26-man rosters.

Entering play Tuesday, the Mets had used 43 players through 46 games (with the likes of Blankenhorn and Seth Lugo set to add to that total). The franchise record for players in a season is 56 in 2018.

Nimmo sorta swinging

Dealing with a nerve issue in his left hand, Brandon Nimmo has started to swing a bat but still is feeling discomfort. So the Mets aren’t pushing him.

"He’s just felt it a little bit. Not at the same rate he felt it in the past, but we just want that completely out of there for sure," Rojas said. "We want to see how he feels day-to-day. We don’t want any stoppage again, the way he had it in Triple-A [during his rehab assignment], because it would just be a failure again. We want him to be fully healthy and comfortable swinging a bat."

Name to watch

The Mets promoted righthander Tylor Megill to Triple-A Syracuse.

In five starts with Double-A Binghamton, Megill, 25, relied heavily on a fastball that reached 98 mph. His secondary pitches — slider, changeup, curveball — are works in progress. He had a 3.12 ERA and 1.08 WHIP, plus 42 strikeouts and seven walks in 26 innings.

Prospecting

The Mets added two notable prospects to Low-A St. Lucie’s roster: righthander J.T. Ginn and outfielder Alex Ramirez. Neither has played professionally.

Ginn, 22, was the Mets’ second-round draft pick last year, signed to first-round money ($2.9 million bonus) after Tommy John surgery caused his stock to drop. He is scheduled to start Thursday. He spent much of his rehab working with Noah Syndergaard at Cressey Sports Performance in South Florida.

Ramirez, 18, received a $2.05 million bonus when he signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2019. He would have played last year, but the minor-league season was canceled due to the pandemic.

PSA

Mets-Diamondbacks at 3:40 p.m. Wednesday will be broadcast exclusively on YouTube (as well as the usual radio options). It will not be on SNY. You can find it at YouTube.com/MLB.

Extra bases

Rojas on his message to catcher James McCann now that he is sharing time with Tomas Nido: "I just want him to be ready. Let’s say we’re a lucky team to have two good catchers right now going well." . . . Jacob deGrom is the only major-league pitcher since at least 1913 to have an ERA under 1.00 and an average over .450 in any span of eight starts.