DJ

Stewart

No real surprises here as the Pirates announced earlier on Monday that Carmen Mlodzinski would break camp as the club’s fifth starter over Harrington. The 23-year-old top pitching prospect figures to break into the majors at some point later this year.

Stewart was signed as a non-roster invite in January, and the 31-year-old can opt out of his contract Monday if he’s not added to the 40-man roster. Assuming he’s not, Stewart should see interest from other clubs, but likely will only find another minor league contract.

Hall is just 4-for-21 this spring, but three of his hits have left the yard. D.J. Stewart has taken over as the favorite in Pittsburgh to step in Spencer Horwitz’s replacement at first base at the beginning of the season, but Hall still has a shot. The two have essentially the same OPS — .880 for Hall, .878 for Stewart.

It’s one of the better landing spots for Stewart to compete for a bench spot as the Pirates are a bit thin from a depth perspective at the moment. The 31-year-old showed some signs of life over the last two years with the Mets, but struggled last season to a pedestrian .622 OPS with five homers in 194 plate appearances for New York. He can be safely ignored for fantasy baseball purposes.

Stewart showed some flashes in New York over the last two years, but basically stopped hitting for power this past season, finishing with a lackluster .622 OPS with five homers in 194 plate appearances. The 30-year-old former first-round pick has never quite lived up to those expectations, but he’s managed to stick around in a bench role. It’s fair to wonder if there will be another opportunity out there for him heading into 2025.

Stewart was optioned to make room for Luisangel Acuna on the active. The Mets need another infielder with Jeff McNeil out for the season and Francisco Lindor dealing with a back issue. Stewart hit .177 with five home runs and 19 RBI for New York this year.

With any luck, this will prove minor. Eddy Alvarez replaced Lindor at shortstop tonight. If Lindor is going to miss time, the Mets will need to add an infield, perhaps again Pablo Reyes. It’d probably come at DJ Stewart’s expense.

Marte continues to be given days of rest since being taken off the injured list, and he’ll have another maintenance day against Toronto on Tuesday. DJ Stewart gets the start in left while Marte sits.

The Mets decided they wanted a left-handed bat more than another infielder on their bench with Jeff McNeil down. Stewart has hit just .175/.326/.299 in 190 plate appearances this season, but it does seem like he’s been rather unlucky in the process. His exit velocity numbers aren’t much different than when he hit .244/.333/.506 last year, and his strikeout rate is actually well down (30% to 24%).

Stewart heads back to the minors with veteran J.D. Martinez back from paternity list for Friday’s series opener against Cincinnati.