Seattle Mariners Sign Two Players to Minor League Deals
The Seattle Mariners continued to add to their farm system ranks with the additions of an infielder and an outfielder on Friday. The Mariners signed outfielder Yunior Garcia and second baseman Kobe Kato to minor league deals. Both players were assigned to the Arizona Complex League Mariners upon their signing.
Kato, a 2021 13th round pick for the Houston Astros, was playing for the independent York Revolution and had his contract purchased by Seattle.
Garcia, a 2017 Los Angeles Dodgers signee out of the Dominican Republic, was a free agent after being released by the team's High-A Great Lake Loons.
Kato signed with the Revolution after being released by the Astros' Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks on April 7. In 64 games with York, Kato hit .255 with seven home runs and 27 RBIs.
Kobe Kato hits a solo homer to tie the game!
— York Revolution (@yorkrevolution) July 7, 2024
End. 1 | FerryHawks 1 Revolution 1
📺: @FloBaseball #FinishOurStory pic.twitter.com/vwpHOG1CaS
Garcia hit .160 in 30 games with the Loons this season with five home runs and 17 RBIs.
Yunior Garcia with a solo shot! pic.twitter.com/LW8eD4YAVB
— Great Lakes Pontooners (@greatlakesloons) May 5, 2023
Kato never reached past the Hooks in his three years with Houston and Garcia wasn't able to advance past Great Lakes in his seven years with Los Angeles.
With the MLB draft and the trade deadline fast approaching, the Mariners are likely preparing to move and shift a lot of prospects around their organization, creating more openings in the farm system.
Seattle has eight prospects in Baseball America's top 100 list and has the 15th pick in the upcoming draft. The Mariners have several realistic options available to either trade some prospects or keep them and develop for the future.
It's unlikely Seattle has All-Star expectations from either Kato or Garcia, but having two veterans in a farm system is never a bad thing.
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