Former Little-Used Seattle Mariners Catcher Gets Next Opportunity with Royals
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Former Seattle Mariners catcher and farmhand Brian O'Keefe has earned an invite to spring training with the Kansas City Royals. He joins the likes of Austin Cox and Cavan Biggio in that group.
The Royals put the information out on social media.
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) January 10, 2025
The 31-year-old Keefe was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2014 and made his debut with the Mariners in 2022. He got three official at-bats that year and then got 19 more in 2023. He has three career hits and two career RBI. O'Keefe is a career .252 hitter over 10 minor league seasons as well. He has 134 minor-league home runs.
It's highly unlikely that he makes the Royals, given that they have catcher stability with Salvador Perez, but hey, if you can stick around, then go for it.
As for the Mariners, they also have organizational stability at catcher with Cal Raleigh. The backup slot this year is likely to go to Mitch Garver, who will be in the final year of his deal.
Seattle has still yet to spend a single dollar in major league free agency this offseason. The biggest moves for the organization has been trading for Austin Shenton of the Rays and claiming a handful of interesting pitchers on waivers.
With four weeks to go until pitchers and catchers report, fans are certainly getting restless about the M's inactivity. They are also getting restless about the M's potentially wasting another year of a great pitching staff.
The M's were 85-77 a season ago.
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