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Mets Claim Potential Starter From Baltimore Orioles
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- Mets Claim Potential Starter From Baltimore Orioles
The New York Mets are doing open auditions, and the latest pitcher to join the party is Cameron Weston , whom the Mets claimed off waivers from the Baltimore Orioles and optioned him to Triple-A Syracuse, per a report from Darragh McDonald of MLBTradeRumors.com.
Weston is 26, which explains this pickup in part. He was an eighth-round pick for the Orioles in 2022, and he finally made Baltimore's roster in May and made just one appearance, throwing a single scoreless inning before being optioned back down to the minors.
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That was evidently good enough for the Mets, who are presumably intrigued by his minor league work, per McDonald. Weston was ranked 14th in the Orioles system, and he does have an interesting arsenal , including a fastball, slider, changeup, splitter and cutter.
He's thrown three of those this year, which FanGraphs characterized as a sinker, slider and forkball, per the report. His scouting report gives him a floor of a depth starter thanks to his mix, and there may be the possibility for more.
The Mets are currently looking for pitching depth given that they've promoted Nolan McLean and Zac Thornton, traded Brandon Sproat to the Milwaukee Brewers , and presumably are about to bring back Jonah Tong for another run at a role in the starting rotation.
New York is also currently looking for bullpen depth after the Mets traded most of theirs at the deadline, so the mix is a bit of a patchwork quilt at the moment. The rotation is also a hodge-podge given all the tryouts going on, and things will probably continue that way for the last 20 games or so as the Mets continue to play out the season.
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To make room for Weston, the Mets designated catcher Shawn Ross for assignment. They claimed him from the Pittsburgh Pirates just a month ago, so the Mets lose some catching depth in this swap.
Their current roster features Francisco Alvarez and Luis Torrens splitting the catching duties, with Hayden Senger on an optional assignment in the minors, with Ross now being the odd man out.
Catching depth is always in demand, especially at this time of year, so Ross has a decent chance to catch on somewhere. He only has five appearances in the big leagues so far, but according to McDonald he has some pop to go with an eye-popping 37.6 percent strikeout rate. The big question now is whether Weston will make it to Citi Field as the Mets play out the final games of the season.
