...
By Jackson Roberts
Contributing Sports Writer
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
One of the tasks for the Seattle Mariners coming into the offseason was to completely restructure the catching depth chart behind superstar Cal Raleigh.
Raleigh may have been the runner-up in the Most Valuable Player race this season, but there's no question that he's the most valuable commodity the Mariners have at their disposal. He'll play the vast majority of the games behind the dish, but the days of catchers playing close to all 162 games vanished a long time ago.
Seattle's primary backup last year was disappointing veteran Mitch Garver, who remained unsigned in free agency as of Friday afternoon. Meanwhile, it traded top prospect Harry Ford, who deserved a chance to win a long-term starting job, to the Washington Nationals in exchange for exciting reliever Jose A. Ferrer.
Read More on MLB
...
Raleigh's new projected backup is Andrew Knizner, who signed a major league deal with the Mariners in December. But a little roster competition in spring training is never a bad idea, particularly when there could be multiple backup catching plans Seattle experiments with throughout the season.
On Friday, the Mariners signed 32-year-old veteran catcher Brian O'Keefe, who was briefly a Raleigh backup in Seattle in 2022 and 2023, to a minor-league deal with a non-roster invite to spring training, per the official Major League Baseball transactions log and O'Keefe's roster page.
O'Keefe only has 10 games of major league experience under his belt, all with the Mariners. He was 3-for-22 at the plate in those games and is still looking for his first major league home run.
After leaving the Mariners at the end of 2023, O'Keefe briefly signed with the Minnesota Twins, got released at the end of spring training in 2024, then caught on with the Kansas City Royals for a year and a half at Triple-A. Kansas City released O'Keefe last summer on June 23, and he spent the rest of the season with the Lake County DockHounds of the independent American Association.
O'Keefe will be one of several catchers the Mariners bring to camp who hope to eventually win the backup job to Raleigh. Seattle has Jhonny Pereda as the third backstop on the 40-man roster, while Jakson Reetz and Nick Raposo are two other non-roster invites.
More MLB: Blue Jays’ Trey Yesavage Reveals New Weapon for Rookie Season
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines