Luke Voit, a native of St. Louis, is suddenly considered a dark horse chance to reach the big league roster after just last week signing a minor level contract with the New York Mets.
The Mets signed Voit on February 20 and anticipate that he will fight with Mark Vientos, a prospect, for playing time at designated hitter.
The Mets selected two players, including Voit, from among the dark-horse contenders chosen by MLB.com writers to make their rosters.
“Mark Vientos will rake this spring and run with the starting DH gig, in a perfect world for the organization,” MLB.com Mets writer Anthony DiComo said. “However, the Mets might lose if Vientos doesn’t or if seasoned DJ Stewart suffers in Grapefruit League action as much as he did in September.
Voit is being given opportunities early on. With 11 plate appearances as of Wednesday, he leads the team, but he hasn’t been able to take advantage of them, recording just one hit in 10 at-bats.
Voit had a 1.058 OPS in 37 games with Syracuse, the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate, last season before he decided to leave in August because he didn’t see a way to make it to the majors.
Voit told NorthJersey.com, “I didn’t know what else I really had to do in Triple-A.” “I know they were trying to sell at that moment and wanted to play all of their young guys. When I opted out, many other teams kind of said the same thing: it’s a business.
“I got to be home with my family, I’ve got two little kids now so it was a little bit of blessing to be home with my wife, but I’m a baseball player and I want to be back on the diamond.”
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