Kyren Paris’ run in the Angels organization is over, and the next chapter starts in New York.
The Mets claimed the 24-year-old utility player off waivers on Thursday and designated outfielder Cristian Pache for assignment. Paris, a second-round pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, had spent eight seasons with the Angels after coming up through their system.
His latest major league stint never really got going. Paris appeared in just eight games in 2026 and went 0 for 15 with eight strikeouts, a rough follow-up to the promise he flashed early in 2025.
For a brief stretch, it looked like he might be turning a corner: he was hitting .400 through his first 13 games of that season, with five home runs and eight RBIs in his first 35 at-bats. But that surge disappeared quickly.
By May 25, Paris had fallen to a .190/.266/.381 line. The Angels sent him to Triple-A Salt Lake, and he played only one more big league game the rest of the season.
Across 88 games with Los Angeles from 2023-26, Paris hit .147/.238/.272 with seven home runs and 17 RBIs. He also struck out 101 times in 232 at-bats, and that swing-and-miss issue will be a major hurdle if he wants to stick on the Mets’ 40-man roster.
Paris was once viewed as one of the Angels’ better young pieces. MLB Pipeline ranked him as the club’s No. 5 prospect in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the minor league season that year, delaying his chance to get a full pro season under his belt until 2021.
His stock rose again after a strong Double-A showing in 2022, when he hit .359/.510/.641. That performance moved him up to No. 4 on the Angels’ internal prospect list, per Pipeline, and earned him a call-up to the majors in 2023.
The bat has never fully matched the projection, and the defensive fit never settled in either. Paris came up as a second baseman, but he never locked down one spot as a plus defender despite limited competition at the position.
In 2025, he filled in for Mike Trout in center field while Trout was easing his physical workload, and that looked like a better fit. Even so, Paris didn’t play the infield at all in 2026.
He still couldn’t carve out at-bats in the outfield, either, losing out to glove-first players like Bryce Teodosio and Jose Siri. Now Paris gets another chance to show he can stick, this time with the Mets.
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