Francisco Mejia Fantasy Baseball Updates - Ben Rosener’s MLB Beat

Ben Rosener looks at the fantasy impact of the Tampa Bay Rays reportedly designating catcher Francisco Mejia for assignment. Who will be his replacement on the Rays' roster?

Major League Baseball’s regular season continues, and with it comes the daily influx of baseball news that fantasy managers missed in the winter months. Lineup news, regular waiver wire moves, pitching assignments, and bullpen usage.

This column aims to cover any fantasy baseball news, big or small, and how it pertains to your fantasy team. Has a player who's usually been hitting in the middle of a lineup suddenly batting eighth or ninth for an extended period? The fantasy implications will be covered here.

The same goes for injuries and injured list placements and whether or not you should consider picking up a player who was recently called up. Basically, any kernel of fantasy news and its relevance to fantasy managers could be covered here. Today, the news of the day is the fantasy impact of the Tampa Bay Rays reportedly designating catcher Francisco Mejia for assignment.

Fantasy Baseball Impact Of The Rays Cutting Francisco Mejia

The Tampa Bay Rays have reportedly designated catcher Francisco Mejia for assignment, according to a tweet from The Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin on Tuesday. Topkin tweeted the following:

Mejia hit .227 with a .258 on-base percentage ad five home runs in 160 plate appearances for Tampa Bay this season. A mainstay with the American League East franchise for much of the last three seasons, the Rays will now move forward without the catcher on their 40-man roster. Instead, the club will utilize Christian Bethancourt and Rene Pinto behind the plate.

Bethancourt has hit .227 with a .261 on-base percentage and eight home runs in 277 plate appearances this season. Meanwhile, Pinto is batting .276 with a .300 on-base percentage and a home run in 30 plate appearances, both as of the start of play on Tuesday. In what could potentially be a timeshare, although that’s purely speculative, fantasy managers in leagues with 12 or fewer teams are probably better off looking elsewhere.

Bethancourt is worth a look for fantasy managers in leagues with 14 or more teams or 12-team leagues with two catcher spots in the starting lineup. Pinto, meanwhile, is more of an option in deeper leagues for now.

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