The 28 year-old was signed as a free agent this off-season after being granted free agency from the Padres organization. Previously he spent time in the Rangers system and had 41 AB’s in the majors from 2012-13 with the Dodgers organization.
The outfielder joins a complicated depth chart for the Mets that features starters Lagares/Granderson/Cuddyer with Mayberry/den Dekker/Captain Kirk/Puello/Vaughn. For the Mets, Alex represents a player that can put onto the 40 in a hurry in an emergency if they don’t want to mess with options with some of their other OF players.
In the majors Castellanos batted .171 over his 41 AB’s with 4 extrabase hits, including 2 homers. Last year he hit .275 with a .351 OBP while recording 99 hits over 360 AB’s with 25 doubles, 5 triples and 8 homers.
Alex, more so than others, has a shot of moving up the Mets depth chart. He was able to hit in the minors last year, and we already know the Mets are tepid (for better or worse, I’m not sure) on using Puello. If they don’t want to add Vaughn to the 40 man to protect him, then Alex becomes a good choice. Also, my gut says they want to protect someone like den Dekker as well, meaning they don’t want him to come up if he isn’t going to get regular playing time (although they haven’t always treated him like this). If Kirk is already on the 25 man, then Alex may be the next one up in case of injury.
If anything, Castellanos is a nice addition to depth chart.
