Catcher Brian O’Keefe is heading to MLB Spring Training with the Mariners, the team announced Friday. O’Keefe joined the organization on a minor league pact that same day, per his MLB.com transaction tracker.
The agreement is a homecoming of sorts for O’Keefe. The veteran catcher made his MLB debut with Seattle back in 2022. He appeared in 10 games with the Mariners from 2022 to 2023. O’Keefe went to Spring Training with the Twins the following year, but was cut in March. He landed in Kansas City as a minor league free agent. He launched 18 home runs with a 130 wRC+ in 72 games with Omaha in 2024. The strong performance earned O’Keefe a Spring Training invitation with the Royals, but he ended up back with the Storm Chasers. He hit .158 in 43 games with the team this past year and was released in June.
St. Louis took O’Keefe in the seventh round of the 2014 draft. He was a well-above league-average hitter in the Cardinals system, but never made it beyond Double-A. O’Keefe ended up in Seattle’s organization in December 2019. A Curt Casali trip to the paternity list led to O’Keefe’s first callup. He spent a bit more time with the big-league club following a Tom Murphy injury.
Seattle has a rock-solid option in Cal Raleigh handling most of the reps behind the plate, though the club’s depth options have shifted this offseason. The Mariners dealt Harry Ford to the Nationals in a trade that netted reliever Jose A. Ferrer. A reunion with free agent Mitch Garver was mentioned in December, but nothing came of it. Seattle instead signed Andrew Knizner, traded for Jhonny Pereda, and handed Spring Training invitations to former big leaguers O’Keefe and Jakson Reetz.
Photo courtesy of Erik Williams, Imagn Images