Orioles officially announce spring training non-roster invitees

Pitchers and catchers will be reporting to Sarasota for the beginning of Orioles spring training in two weeks time. On Tuesday, the Orioles announced their non-roster invitees to camp who will be joining in, at least until they are eventually re-assigned to the minor league camp.

Included among the non-roster invites is one big name, catcher Adley Rutschman, the #1 overall pick in last year’s draft. Rutschman’s invite had been reported previously and is just official now. Others who will be joining Rutschman and the 40-man roster in Sarasota include outfielder Yusniel Diaz, lefty starters Zac Lowther, Alex Wells, and Bruce Zimmermann, and infielders Rylan Bannon and Mason McCoy.

It’s not very likely that any one of these players will break camp with the Orioles, no matter how good of a spring training they might have. We learned last spring that the Mike Elias philosophy is that minor league regular season performance matters more than spring training performance. The non-roster prospects don’t have any Triple-A success to speak of since, for the most part, they have not played at Triple-A.

Still, it’s nice to get a sense of who in the high minors is worth the brass getting to check them out. If two or three of these players look like they belong in Baltimore by year’s end, it won’t be hard to feel like the rebuild is progressing.

These aren’t the only Orioles prospects who will be in camp. The four players who they added to their 40-man roster last fall will also be around: Keegan Akin, Dean Kremer, Ryan McKenna, and Ryan Mountcastle. There will be some players worth keeping an eye on. Hopefully they acquit themselves well and stay on the radar for a possible regular season call-up.

The full list of non-roster invites has a number of players the O’s signed to minor league contracts with spring training invites this offseason. Some played bit parts in the 2019 Orioles giving up a bajillion home runs.

Left-handed pitchers

• Ty Blach
• Hunter Cervenka
• Zac Lowther
• Alex Wells
• Rob Zastryzny
• Bruce Zimmermann

Right-handed pitchers

• Cristian Alvarado
• Marcos Diplán
• Tom Eshelman
• Eric Hanhold
• Brady Rodgers
• Chandler Shepherd

Catchers

• Martin Cervenka
• Taylor Davis
• Bryan Holaday
• Adley Rutschman

Infielders

• Rylan Bannon
• Malquin Canelo
• Dilson Herrera
• Mason McCoy
• José Rondón

Outfielders

• Yusniel Diaz
• Mason Williams

Need a refresher on who’s on the 40-man roster? Check it out here.

One noteworthy name not on the invite list is righty Luis Ortiz, part of the return from the Brewers for Jonathan Schoop, who was outrighted from the roster at the end of October. Though several 2019 roster castoffs are among the pitchers invited, it seems the O’s have seen enough of Ortiz.

If the Orioles make any more moves before the start of spring training, that could impact the camp roster. If they sign a big league free agent, that player would automatically be around, and someone would have to come off of the 40-man roster. Handing out minor league deals with big league camp invites could also add players to the roster.