Former Tigers infielder lands with Mets as DFA rollercoaster season continues

The Tigers' latest lefty-killer has already earned his keep this season. Jahmai Jones is slugging .483 against them with two homers — a go-ahead shot against the Red Sox and a pinch-hit, game-tying bomb against the Brewers — in 30 plate appearances.

With righty Spencer Torkelson finding his groove, tied for second with righty Dillon Dingler in Tigers home runs, Detroit is getting more of what they've desperately needed from that side of the plate over the last few years.

It's made it very easy for fans to forget about Andy Ibáñez.

Ibáñez was non-tendered in November after appearing in 91 games around a two(ish)-month demotion to Triple-A. The Dodgers signed him to a one-year, $1 million major league deal after they lost some infield depth in Kiké Hernández and Tommy Edman, but they made the inexplicable decision to DFA him not long after, probably hopeful they would be able to sneak him through the waiver wire.

The Athletics called their bluff, and he rode their bench until April 26, when they too DFA'ed him. Per Francys Romero, the latest to pick him up is the struggling New York Mets.

Andy Ibáñez joins his third organization since Tigers release in 2025

Ibáñez made all of four starts during his brief time in Sacramento but only played in one complete game, when he collected his only two hits as an A. All told, he hit .118 with a .284 OPS in 11 games and 18 plate appearances.

The Mets snapped their 12-game losing streak last week but are still 3-4 since. Juan Soto came off the IL, but then Francisco Lindor and Luis Robert Jr. went onto it. The latter saw infielder Eric Wagaman being called up to take Robert's spot on Thursday, but if he doesn't make a magical first impression on New York (which he probably won't), Ibáñez could be the next man up.

He completely lost his lefty-killing ability last season with the Tigers, and it might just be gone entirely. The A's knew what they were getting out of him and gave him 16 plate appearances against lefties to two against righties accordingly. Both of his hits came off of the former, but it was far from enough to keep him on a major league roster for long.

The Mets have a way of finding obscure players and turning them into unlikely spark plugs (Jared Young was already that guy this season before he got hurt), so you never know with Ibáñez, even though the odds seem low.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow