Mets Claim Jared Oliva

The Mets have claimed outfielder Jared Oliva off waivers from the Giants, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. San Francisco designated him for assignment a few days ago. The Mets have an open 40-man roster spot, so Oliva can take that. As for the active roster, Oliva has options, so they could send him to Triple-A if they so choose.

Oliva, 30, is an outfielder known for his speed. He is good for 30-plus steals in a minor league season, whenever he gets enough playing time to do so. Last year, he got that all the way up to 57 swipes in just 95 Triple-A games in the Brewers’ system.

He isn’t as impressive from the batter’s box, but he’s not bad either. Dating back to the start of 2021, he has a combined line of .262/.338/.415, which leads to a 102 wRC+. That’s only barely above average but that could be valuable if he’s running down balls in the outfield and stealing bases at a high rate.

Despite his attributes, he has only received minimal time in the big leagues. He got into 26 games with the Pirates in 2020 and 2021 but then was stuck in the minors for all of 2022 through 2025. The Giants signed him to a minor league deal this winter and decided to break camp with him in a bench role. Unfortunately, he suffered a hamate fracture just a few weeks into the season. Once he got healthy, the Giants decided not to add him back to the roster, designating him for assignment instead.

The Mets, as mentioned, had an open 40-man spot to work with. They could add Oliva to their bench as a potential late-game difference-maker. Though as also mentioned, Oliva is still optionable, so they could also send him to Syracuse for the time being.