The 19 St. Louis Cardinals players invited to major league spring training camp as non-roster invitees are as follows:
Pitchers (10): Shelby Miller, John Gast, Joe Kelly, Jordan Swagerty, Trevor Rosenthal, Victor Marte, R.J. Swindle, Kevin Siegrist, Nick Greenwood, Tyrell Jenkins
Catchers: (5): Steven Hill, Koyie Hill, Robert Stock, Cody Stanley, Luis De La Cruz
Infielders (4): Matt Adams, Kolten Wong, Ryan Jackson, Eugenio Velez
Cardinals Major League pitchers and catchers report to Jupiter, Fla. on February 18 with their first workout set for February 19. The Cardinals full squad reports on February 23 and begins workouts on February 24.
You can view the entire 2012 Cardinals spring training schedule here.
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How to interpret these choices? Stanley had a good season at low A, so gets encouragement. Stock and De La Cruz are good defenders, so also get encouraged. Siegrist and Rosenthal had fine seasons, so get encouraged. There is about zero chance any of these 5 could make the ML roster, so inclusion is about the need for catchers and encouraging good guys for the long-term.
Though Derba and Tartamella have caught at AA, they do not have a lot of upside, so did not get included.
Marte had a great season for Memphis, so earned inclusion. He could pitch in the majors, but there is no roster room.
The Cards used to invite more post-peak ML vets, like Koyie Hill. Now the NRI list is mostly about the future.
Stock, De La Cruz, and Stanley get invites over Springfield’s Audry Perez, suggesting he needs to improve defensive skills.
Two of the best NRI candidates for surprising and making the team this spring are C Hill and LHP Gast. If Rzepcynski or Romero were to suffer an injury this spring, this could open a roster slot for Gast.
Brian, would the 10th pitcher be Tyrell Jenkins? You have “10″, but only 9 named.
Correct. I left the last name off in my haste to post. Thanks for the reminder.
No outfielders on the list makes for more OF innings for Carpenter, Hamilton, Greene, Adams, S. Hill, Cruz, etc.
Curious about the org thinking in Jenkins over Martinez. Martinez is by all accounts more advanced. Is it because Martinez was in winter camp in the D.R.? On the surface, makes little sense.
Maybe Martinez will be an early invitee to minor league camp.
Yes, he absolutely will be.
Circa 2005/6, for spring training, we dragged out southpaw Bill Pulsipher. Bo Hart was trying to learn switch-hitting at the ML level. Scott Spiezio was unearthed. We tried aging reliever Jeff Nelson. The NRI list was mostly a long-shot collection of cast-offs, misfits, has beens, or never weres. The good news now is we have less need for the old grab-bag, because the Cards have more home-grown depth.
Now most on the NRI list are hopefuls for future years. Jenkins, Rosenthal, and Siegrist will workout with the big boys, throw an inning a piece, and get assigned to minor league camp.
Excellent work with the top prospect list write ups on the main site, CC!
Thanks!
I bet he especially liked the part where you gave me grief!
It sounds like there wasn’t any negative Albert reaction from the huddled masses at the warm-up.
I don’t know about none, but the predominant view definitely seemed supportive of the team’s stance.
And Seigrest has to be the surprise of the group. Didn’t make TheCardinalNation top 40. Will probably work out of the pen in big league camp so this may be a precursor into trying to make him a LOOGY.