The deal is a homecoming of sorts for O’Keefe. The veteran catcher made his MLB debut with Seattle in 2022. He played in 10 games with the Mariners from 2022 to 2023. O’Keefe went to Spring Training with the Twins the following year but was cut in March. He landed in Kansas City as a minor league free agent. He launched 18 home runs with a 130 wRC+ in 72 games with Omaha in 2024. The strong performance earned O’Keefe a Spring Training invite to the Royals, but he ended up back with the Storm Chasers. He hit .158 in 43 games with the team last year and was released in June.
St. Louis took O’Keefe in the seventh round of the 2014 draft. He was a well-above-league-average hitter in the Cardinals system, but never advanced beyond Double-A. O’Keefe joined Seattle’s organization in December 2019 Curt Casali A visit to the paternity list led to O’Keefe’s first phone call. He spent some more time with the big league club after a Tom Murphy injury.
Seattle has a solid option Cal Raleigh handling most of the reps behind the plate, although the club’s depth options have shifted this offseason. The sailors acted Harry Ford to the Nationals in a trade that netted reliever Jose A. Ferrer. A free agent reunion Mitch Garver was mentioned in December, but nothing came of it. Seattle signed instead Andreas Kniznerexchanged Johnny Peredaand presented Spring Training invitations to former big leaguers O’Keefe and Episode Reetz.
Photo courtesy of Erik Williams, Imagn Images
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