Non-Roster Invitee: Christian Arroyo

The Mets off-season strategy in 2026 was to collect all the infielders. There are nine players on the Mets 40-man roster that can play infield. On top of that, there are six non-roster players in camp who primarily play in the infield. Christian Arroyo is one of those players who the Mets signed for infield depth, and he has a lot of competition to make the Mets roster this season.

Arroyo was a first round draft pick by the Giants back in 2013 and would make his major league debut with the Giants in 2017. In December of 2017, he was one of four prospects sent to the Rays for Evan Longoria. After a couple of years with the Rays, he was traded to Cleveland at the 2019 trade deadline. Since then, he’s been with the Red Sox, Brewers, Phillies and now the Mets. For immaculate grid players, he never played in the majors with the Brewers and Phillies.

Arroyo has played in 295 major league games with 992 plate appearances slashing .252/.299/.394 with a 2.1 bWAR. His two most productive seasons were in 2021 and 2022 with the Red Sox:

• 2021: 1.5 bWAR, 57 G, 181 PA, .262/.324/.445, 103 OPS+
• 2022: 0.7 bWAR, 87 G, 300 PA, .286/.322/.414, 103 OPS+

Between 2021 and 2023 with the Red Sox Arroyo played mostly second base with time at short, first, third and right field. He even pitched an inning of relief in 2021.

His playing time in the majors, including a couple of years with an OPS+ above 100, puts him at an advantage compared to some other infielders fighting for a roster spot. In case of an emergency, the Mets could add him to the roster for a short stint if they need another player on the bench.

Last season he played 45 games with the Lehigh Valley Pigs (Phillies AAA affiliate) hitting a solid .301/.367/.457 over 207 PAs. That plays when you need an emergency bat and don’t want to call up a prospect to fill the gap!

We can make a lot of jokes about the sheer number of infielders the Mets are carrying this season. With multiple players learning new positions (Bichette, Polanco, etc), having a utility infielder that can play anywhere without messing up another player’s development is a luxury. Unless Arroyo tears up the International League, his most likely route to seeing playing time with the Mets this season is to fill a positional or bench need in a short-term emergency.

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