In order to help their own outfield depth, the Mets signed some away from the Yankees.
Tim Locastro has agreed to a minor-league deal with the Mets, The Post’s Jon Heyman confirmed. It also includes an invite to spring training, according to FanNation, which first reported the deal.
The 30-year-old Locastro spent the last season-plus on the Yankees — with a waiver claim by Boston mixed in last offseason — after the Yankees acquired him from the Diamondbacks in a July 2021 trade. He became a go-to pinch runner when promoted from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Across 47 MLB games with the Yankees, Locastro recorded a .188 batting average with a .607 OPS. He contributed 12 hits, three home runs and six RBIs, while also stealing eight bases.
Locastro was originally a 13th-round pick by the Blue Jays in 2013, and he made his MLB debut with the Dodgers four years later. He was traded to the Yankees for the first time in 2018, but the Yankees flipped him to the Diamondbacks just two months later. There, he logged a career-high 91 games during the 2019 season, playing a mix of all three outfield positions.
Locastro set an MLB record for the most successful stolen bases — without getting thrown out — to begin a career with 29, a streak that continued until April 2021. He has stolen 39 throughout his career and been caught five times.
In an offseason of high-profile signings by the Mets, Locastro’s name doesn’t generate as much buzz as the others. But it still provides some outfield depth should they need it. Locastro joins a list that includes Justin Verlander, Brandon Nimmo, Edwin Diaz, Jose Quintana and Kodai Senga, among others, as players who received contracts from the Mets — who finished 101-61 and second place in the NL East — since their season ended and free agency began.
They also remain the most likely landing spot for Carlos Correa despite a physical that was flagged, according to Heyman.