The New York Mets made a relatively small free agent signing on Tuesday night, but it has cool ties through baseball history.
The new Mets player, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post, is Grae Kessinger. They've signed him to a minor league contract with an invite to spring training.
Kessinger is the grandson of Don Kessinger, who played 12 seasons for the Chicago Cubs in which he made six All-Star teams and won two Gold Glove awards.
Grae has played in just 48 MLB games. Those were split between 2023 and 2024 with the Houston Astros. He batted.131 (8-for-61).
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He's originally a second-round pick in the 2019 MLB Draft out of Ole Miss, taken by the Astros. He's a native of Oxford, Mississippi.
After making it to the majors in 2023 and 2024 with Houston, he left the organization and signed with the Diamondbacks for 2025.
Kessinger only played in Triple-A Reno in 2025, just for 11 games in a limited campaign for him. He batted.235 in the light action.
Now, Kessinger joins his third organization, hoping to put together a fuller season and potentially prove to the Mets that he deserves a shot back in the big leagues at some point.
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New York has two unusual infielders slated to start the year, Bo Bichette at third base and Jorge Polanco at first base. Those are new positions for both of them.
Adding some infield depth to likely open the season at Triple-A Syracuse probably isn't the worst idea, just in case things go particularly awry.
For now, though, he'll try to continue to hone his strong baseball genes to get himself another shot in the majors.
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