Major League Baseball

Jeter is back with the Yankees — Jeter Downs claimed off waivers

Published Dec. 19, 2023 4:09 p.m. ET

Jeter is back with the Yankees — Jeter Downs.

New York claimed the 25-year-old shortstop off waivers from the Washington Nationals on Tuesday.

Downs, the 32nd overall pick by Cincinnati in the 2017 amateur draft, is named after former Yankees captain Derek Jeter.

Downs made his big league debut with the Boston Red Sox in 2022 and hit .154 (6-for-39) with one homer and four RBIs. He was claimed by the Nationals off waivers last Dec. 22 and was 2-for-5 this year with one RBI and stole two bases. He hit .236 with three homers, 18 RBIs and 11 steals this year for Triple-A Rochester of the International League.

Before his big league debut on June 22, 2022, Downs received a pregame congratulatory tweet from Jeter, who met his namesake a few years earlier.

"Congratulations and good luck… unless you are playing the Yankees," Jeter wrote.

With the move, the Yankees have acquired two of the players the Red Sox received in their trade for Mookie Betts from the Dodgers in February 2020. They traded for Alex Verdugo from the Red Sox earlier in December.

Reporting by The Associated Press.