{"id":2281008,"date":"2026-02-13T20:04:58","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T20:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2281008"},"modified":"2026-02-13T20:04:58","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T20:04:58","slug":"ny-mets-add-former-royals-outfielder-to-bolster-depth-around-juan-soto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/ny-mets-add-former-royals-outfielder-to-bolster-depth-around-juan-soto\/","title":{"rendered":"NY Mets add former Royals outfielder to bolster depth around Juan Soto"},"content":{"rendered":"

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With Juan Soto<\/a><\/strong> set to shift from right field to left as part of the Mets<\/strong>\u2019 offseason reshuffle, New York<\/strong> continued reinforcing its outfield depth ahead of the new season. The organization has made multiple changes in recent months and is building its defensive alignment around Soto and its revamped core.<\/p>\n

The departures of Brandon Nimmo<\/strong> and Jeff McNeil<\/strong> via trade, along with Starling Marte <\/strong>entering free agency, left the Mets<\/a> searching for additional stability across the outfield. Luis Robert Jr.<\/strong> is expected to handle center field duties, while internal competition remains for the remaining corner spots.<\/p>\n

The Mets officially announced the addition Thursday on X<\/strong>, posting: \u201cWe have signed outfielder MJ Melendez to a one-year contract. Welcome to Queens, MJ!\u201d<\/em> Melendez\u2019s deal will pay him $1.5 million<\/strong> in the majors and $425,000 in the minors.<\/p>\n

Melendez brings versatility and upside<\/h2>\n

The 27-year-old left-handed hitter debuted with the Kansas City Royals<\/a><\/strong> in 2022 as both a catcher and corner outfielder before transitioning exclusively to the outfield in 2024. He can play both corner positions, giving the Mets flexibility as they evaluate their defensive alignment.<\/p>\n

Melendez owns a .215 career batting average with 52 home runs, 163 RBIs, and a .685 OPS across four MLB seasons. <\/strong>Although he struggled in limited MLB action last year, he performed well at Triple-A Omaha, hitting .261 with 20 home runs, 64 RBIs, 20 stolen bases, and an .813 OPS in 107 games.<\/p>\n

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see also<\/p>\n

Aaron Boone offers calm response to Isiah Kiner\u2011Falefa\u2019s \u2018surprising\u2019 NY Yankees assessment<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Depth move as Mets reshape outfield<\/h2>\n

Tyrone Taylor <\/strong>projects as a strong defensive option, while top prospect Carson Benge<\/strong> will have an opportunity to compete for playing time despite limited Triple-A experience. Adding Melendez gives the Mets another experienced option as they prepare for a competitive season.<\/p>\n

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Survey<\/span>Will MJ Melendez make an impact in the Mets\u2019 outfield this season?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Will MJ Melendez make an impact in the Mets\u2019 outfield this season?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

For Melendez, the move represents a fresh start in New York <\/strong>\u2014 and for the Mets, it adds another layer of depth as they structure the outfield around Soto\u2019s new role.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source bolavip.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Juan Soto set to shift from right field to left as part of the Mets\u2019 offseason reshuffle, New York continued reinforcing its outfield depth ahead of the new season. The organization has made multiple changes in recent months and is building its defensive alignment around Soto and its revamped core. The departures of Brandon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2281009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[349013,43627,311257],"class_list":["post-2281008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty","tag-juan-soto","tag-kansas-city-royals","tag-new-york-mets"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/NY-Mets-add-former-Royals-outfielder-to-bolster-depth-around.webp.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2281008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2281008"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2281008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2281010,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2281008\/revisions\/2281010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2281009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2281008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2281008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2281008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}