What the latest NY Mets minor league free agent signing brings to the depth chart

The New York Mets fortified their outfield depth today signing Edward Olivares to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training with the big league club in Port St. Lucie. The soon-to-be-29-year-old Venezuelan-born outfielder comes to the Mets with 285 Major League games under his belt, most recently playing with the Pittsburgh Pirates last season.

Olivares' addition comes on the heels of the Mets trading for former Tampa Bay Rays' outfielder Jose Siri last month as the team looks to re-make the bottom of their outfield depth chart.

What does Olivares bring to the NY Mets?

Olivares has spent extensive time in the minor leagues. During that time, he's compiled an impressive line of .302/.380/.505 and 22 home runs across 545 plate appearances across parts of four seasons. Back in 2020, he was the San Diego Padres' 29th-ranked prospect according to FanGraphs. FanGraphs lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen noted that he may have a future as a fourth outfielder in the big leagues.

While he's coming off a disappointing season in Pittsburgh where he posted just a 73 wRC+ in 196 plate appearances, his previous two years in Kansas City were relatively encouraging. In 2023 he logged his most big league action ever, tallying 385 plate appearances in 107 games and posting a .263/.317/.452 line with 12 home runs and 11 stolen bases. That performance was good for a 104 wRC+.

In 2022, he was also good with the bat albeit in a smaller role. Over 174 plate appearances, he turned in a .286/.333/.410 line which was good for a wRC+ of 109. Olivares is a bit pull-happy, pulling the ball 48.1% of the time throughout his major league career. While one typically would think of that approach as selling out for power, his career launch angle of 9.7 generates more ground balls and line drives than fly balls and his strikeout rate is a reasonable 18.7%.

Despite some good speed on the bases, Olivares is not a great defender. He's best suited in the corners and he generated a concerning -5 outs above average in left field over 399.1 innings in 2023 and -6 OAA in right field over 326.2 innings in 2024.

His poor defense and inability to man centerfield may cost him as he battles Jose Siri, Tyrone Taylor, and former top prospect Alex Ramirez for a spot on the 26-man roster this spring. Worst case scenario, he should be a solid depth option to stash at AAA Syracuse should the injury bug strike the outfield during the season.