Kevin

Plawecki

Plawecki last played in the majors in 2022 as a member of the Rangers. He spent eight seasons in the show — four of those with the Mets — and he hit .235/.313/.341 with 22 career homers over 447 games.

With Manny Machado likely to start the season as the team’s designated hitter, Batten was in the conversation to play some third base early in the season. That will apparently not be happening. The same goes for prospect Jakob Marsee who was battling with Graham Pauley and Jackson Merrill for an outfield opportunity. Perhaps he’ll get another shot during the season.

The 32-year-old veteran began the 2023 season with the Padres but was traded to the Rangers in July after Jonah Heim landed on the injured list with a wrist injury. Still, Plawecki didn’t get a single MLB at-bat in 2023, spending 67 games in Triple-A with the Padres, Rangers, and Nationals. He hit .272/.349/.389 with four home runs and a 47/26 K/BB ratio. He’ll operate as veteran insurance behind Luis Campusano and Kyle Higashioka.

Plawecki was acquired a few weeks ago from the Padres at the trade deadline, but has been jettisoned with starter Jonah Heim back from injury. The 32-year-old journeyman backstop could wind up landing somewhere else before the regular season wraps up.

With Jonah Heim (wrist) landing on the injured list on Friday, the Rangers were in the market for some extra catching depth, so they snagged Plawecki in a minor league deal with the Padres. The well-traveled 32-year-old backstop can continue to be ignored for fantasy purposes.

You can never have too much catching depth, so the Padres will bring in the 32-year-old backup after he opted out of his contract with the Nationals earlier in the week. He’ll report to Triple-A El Paso.

The veteran backstop exercised the opt-out clause in his minor league deal with the Nationals on Tuesday. The 32-year-old hit .256/.351/.342 with one homer, six RBI and a 15/11 K/BB ratio over 94 plate appearances at Triple-A Rochester.

Plawecki failed to land a spot on the Pirates’ season-opening roster and has found a new opportunity with the Nationals, who are dealing with some depth issues at the catching spot in the upper minors with youngster Israel Pineda sidelined due to injury. The 32-year-old veteran got into 63 games last year between the Rangers and Red Sox. He’s merely emergency catching depth at this stage of his career.

Plawecki decided to trigger the opt-out in his minor league contract to become a free agent after being informed earlier this week that he wouldn’t make Pittsburgh’s Opening Day roster.

Plawecki’s locker was empty at Pirates’ camp on Thursday. The 31-year-old has an out-clause in his contract if he’s not on the roster by Saturday and might prefer to look for a more appealing situation. Tyler Heineman and Jason Delay are the top candidates for the backup catcher job in Pittsburgh behind Austin Hedges.