The Mets signed veteran outfielder and former Met to a minor league deal, . The Excel Sports client will head to Triple-A Syracuse for the time being. Jankowski was placed on waivers by the Rays earlier this month. He went unclaimed , as is his right as a player with more than more than three years of service (more than eight, in Jankowskis case). His time with Tampa Bay, during which he batted .244/.286/.289 in 49 plate appearances, gives him at least some level of big league action in 11 consecutive seasons. Though he cro sed eight years of MLB service during that Rays stint, Jankowski has never been a regular in the majors. He played a career-high 131 games with the 2016 Padres but did so in a limited, part-time role (383 plate appearances). Hes never topped the 387 plate appearances he logged with the 2018 Padres and has a total of 805 plate appearances over the past seven MLB seasons. Jankowski is a career .236/.318/.305 hitter. He has negligible Jackson Edward Jersey power and a league-average strikeout rate but draws plenty of walks, runs well and can play solid defense at all three outfield positions. Hes a nice fourth or fifth outfielder wholl head to Triple-A and see if an opportunity opens up with the Mets big league squad, where , and are currently the main outfield options. Both and can technically play in the outfield, but they have four combined appearances on the gra s this season. Outfielders and are currently on the injured list (although the latter has primarily been a designated hitter). is effectively the Mets fourth outfielder at the moment. Hes logged 96 innings in the outfield, including 49 in center. Jankowski was with the Mets back in 2022 but went just 9-for-44, with all nine of those hits being singles. That came out to a .167/.286/.167 batting line, but he could find himself with the opportunity to make a more lasting impre sion this time around, should the Mets incur an outfield injury or opt to move McNeil back to second base on a full-time basis. Jordan Oesterle Jersey