The Mets have added a fresh arm to their pitching mix, claiming right-hander Cameron Weston off waivers from the Orioles and sending him to Triple-A Syracuse. To make room on the 40-man roster, catcher Shawn Ross was designated for assignment.
Weston, 26, was an eighth-round pick by Baltimore in 2022. The Orioles put him on their 40-man roster in May, but his major league résumé is still just a single outing: one scoreless inning before he was sent back down. That’s the only big league action he’s logged so far.
Even with limited stuff, Weston has enough going on to catch attention. FanGraphs ranked him 14th in the Orioles’ system in April and described a mix that includes a fastball, slider, changeup, splitter and cutter.
Statcast data on his FanGraphs page shows three pitches this season, labeled as a sinker, slider and forkball. The scouting read sees him as a possible depth starter, with more upside depending on how the rest of his development unfolds.
That kind of arm makes sense for a Mets rotation that’s carrying plenty of uncertainty. Freddy Peralta, Clay Holmes and David Peterson were all traded this year, while Kodai Senga has been shifted to the bullpen.
Right now, the club is turning to Nolan McLean, Christian Scott Zac Thornton, Sean Manaea, Robert Stock and Justin Hagenman. Stock is a 36-year-old journeyman who is almost certainly not part of the long-term picture, and Thornton and Hageman are still largely untested, with just 21 big league games between them.
The Mets will likely keep working to reshape that group in the offseason, but teams rarely make it through a season relying only on five, six or even seven starters. Triple-A depth matters, and Weston still has option years left after this season, which gives New York some flexibility.
Adding Weston may cost the Mets a catcher with some intrigue of his own. Ross was only claimed off waivers from the Pirates a month ago, but with Francisco Alvarez and Luis Torrens in the majors and Hayden Senger on optional assignment in Triple-A, New York may have decided he was the more expendable piece.
Because the trade deadline has already passed, Ross will have to clear waivers before anything else happens. Catchers with options often get attention for that reason alone, even when the bat has some rough edges.
Ross has both sides of that profile. He shows power and patience, but the strikeouts have been a major issue.
In the majors, he has only five plate appearances. In 245 minor league plate appearances this season, he has 11 home runs, a 16.7% walk rate and a 37.6% strikeout rate.
If he clears waivers, he would need to accept an outright assignment because he has neither a prior career outright nor at least three years of major league service time.
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