Francisco

Mejia

Mejia was hitting .341/.363/.526 in 48 games as the primary catcher for the Diablos Rojos of Mexico this year, but it appears he asked for his release to try to make it back to the majors. The 29-year-old last saw action with the Rays in 2023. He’s a lifetime .239/.284/.394 hitter in 1,098 major league plate appearances. For what it’s worth, it appears this signing actually happened before Mike Rizzo was fired Sunday, so this wouldn’t seem to be a case of the new guy, Mike DeBartolo, looking to make a change.

The 28-year-old is expected to head to Triple-A and replace Jackson Quero who is currently sidelined due to injury. Mejía spent the spring with the Rays as a non-roster invitee, but couldn’t make the Opening Day roster. He was once a top prospect in baseball, but he hasn’t put it all together, especially offensively where he slashed .227/.258/.400 across 160 plate appearances last season with Tampa Bay.

Mejía was one of the top prospects in baseball a couple years ago, but simply never put it together at the highest level. The 28-year-old backstop was in Rays camp this spring as a non-roster invitee.

No real surprises here among the latest batch of cuts from Rays camp, but Uwasawa stands out as one of the more notable ones since he signed a minor league pact with the Rays during the offseason to attempt to make the jump to the majors from Japan.

Indications were that the Rays still intended to go with Alex Jackson as their backup catcher after bringing back Mejía but we’ll see if that holds up. Not only did Mejía have the nice day at the plate, but he also picked off a runner to end an inning. He’s 3-for-5 with two walks in four games, the first of which came with the Angels.

Mejia is back in Tampa Bay after being released from the Angels last week. The 28-year-old catcher will essentially be the third-string catcher for the Rays and play behind René Pinto and Alex Jackson. This will be Meija’s fourth-straight season with the Rays organization.

Meija was released by the Angels last week and it appears he is on his way back to the Rays as an insurance piece behind the plate. The 28-year-old would be behind Alex Jackson, who is expected to be the backup to René Pinto this season. Meija has spent his last 3 seasons with the Rays and has posted a .245/.285/.398 with 85 RBI and 17 HR in 736 plate appearances. He likely doesn’t hold any fantasy value unless one of Pinto or Jackson go down with an injury.

Mejia, 28, was released by the Angels on Sunday afternoon, but it doesn’t sound like he’s going to be out of work for long. He has spent each of the past three seasons with the Rays, slashing a combined .245/.285/.398 with 17 homers and 85 RBI in 736 plate appearances. Even if he does rejoin the Rays though, he’s unlikely to steal the starting gig away from Rene Pinto and won’t be relevant from a fantasy perspective.

The 28-year-old struggled with the Rays last year, posting a .227/.258/.400 slash line across 160 plate appearances. He signed a minor league contract with Los Angeles earlier this offseason but will now be looking for another opportunity with another ballclub.

The 28-year-old backstop struggled at the dish with the Rays in 2023 — slashing just .227/.258/.400 with five homers and 19 RBI in 160 plate appearances. He’ll compete in Cactus League play to be the primary backup behind Logan O’Hoppe with the Angels.