Former Mariners Catcher Mitch Garver Seeks MLB Opportunity as Yankees Decision Looms
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Mitch Garver is pushing for another major-league opportunity. The Yankees currently have him in Triple-A, and his contract now gives other clubs a chance to change that.
Garver exercised an assignment clause in his minor-league deal with New York. According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the other 29 teams have until 3 p.m. ET on Monday, Aug. 31, to indicate they would put him on their active roster.
If a team steps forward, the Yankees have 48 hours to promote Garver themselves or trade him to an interested club. If nobody does, he stays in their system under his current contract. The reported terms leave all three possibilities open.
Yankees Weigh Mitch Garver Promotion After Quiet Triple-A Start
Can’t blame him for checking the market. At 35, with September approaching, Garver has every reason to find out whether somebody has a major-league spot available. The Yankees were apparently seriously considering a promotion, Sherman reported. His contract adds urgency to a decision they were already weighing anyway.
The Mariners made their call on Aug. 4 by releasing Garver and bringing up Jhonny Pereda to back up Cal Raleigh. Garver finished his time with the Mariners slashing .175/.302/.294 with four home runs and 15 RBIs in 2026.
A .294 slugging percentage is a tough sell for a player whose bat is supposed to be the calling card. The Mariners had already brought him back this spring. By August, they had enough evidence to move on.
Garver’s name still gets a look. Experienced catchers tend to get more opportunities, and New York sees a potential right-handed complement to Austin Wells. A minor-league contract gave the Yankees time to examine him before committing a big-league roster spot.
There’s even a familiar Mariners connection with Garver in New York. He has been making hitting adjustments with Jared DeHart, his former Mariners hitting coach, while also working on defensive changes in the Yankees organization. He spent time in Tampa before joining Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
The early returns still aren’t great, though. Through his first eight Triple-A games, Garver was slashing .179/.324/.214 without a home run. So there’s little evidence of an offensive turnaround here.
A promotion would amount to a bet that the adjustments and his experience can produce something useful over the final month.
From Seattle’s side, we can wish Garver a better finish and understand why the Mariners moved on. His opportunities here kept coming. But the production never became dependable enough.
Now he’s testing whether another club will give him a chance to change how this season ends.
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Tremayne Person is the Publisher for Mariners On SI and the Site Expert at Friars on Base, with additional bylines across FanSided’s MLB division. He founded the Keep It Electric podcast in 2023 and covers baseball with a blend of analysis, context, and a little well-timed side-eye just to keep things honest. Tremayne grew up a Mariners fan in Richmond, Va., and that passion ultimately led him to move to Seattle to cover the team closely and become a regular at home games. Through his writing, he connects with fans who want a deeper, more personal understanding of the game. When he’s not at T-Mobile Park, he’s with his dog, gaming, or finding the next storyline worth digging into.
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