Dodgers Team News

Dodgers News: Prospects Highlight Non-Roster Spring Training Invites

Today, the Los Angeles Dodgers announced their non-roster spring training invites. There were 16 of them. But the real major ones were left-hander Julio Urias, right-handers Jose De Leon and Chris Anderson, and first baseman Cody Bellinger.

Non-roster invites are handed out by every team. They go to players that are not currently listed on the 40-man roster. It’s a great way to give the younger guys a chance and see what they have.




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Pitchers and catchers will report to Camelback Ranch on February 19, and they will have their first workout the next day. Position players report on the 24th, with the 25th being the first day the entire team will be together for practice.

The real headline, though, is that four of the younger prospects are getting an opportunity to showcase what they have. Urias and Anderson went through it last season.

Urias has been talked about ad nauseam. Seeing a guy like Anderson get a shot with another invite is pretty cool, though. The 23-year old former first round pick had a 4.74 ERA last season, with 100 strikeouts in 133 innings.

Bellinger and De Leon are getting their first taste of this sort of thing, so it’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out for them.

None of these four will make the final roster, and all will surely be cuts early on, but that still doesn’t make this accomplishment any less noteworthy.

The other invites were Lisalverto Bonilla, Brooks Brown, Matt West, Kyle Farmer, Jack Murphy, Shawn Zarraga, Charlie Culberson, Rob Segedin, Elian Herrera, Corey Brown, Alex Hassan, and Rico Noel.

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3 Comments

  1. To me, the one interesting invitee is Cody Bellinger.  This may be De Leon’s first invite, but he is being looked at as a possible addition to the ML roster some time during the year, and in the rotation for 2017.  Bellinger is not projected to be an addition this year, and I would doubt that he would be a September call up, because the arbitration and FA clock start as soon as he is added to the 40 man roster.  I do not disagree with the invite, as I think he is a legitimate 1B prospect, and there are not really any true 1B other than Gonzalez on the roster. He is projected as a good defensive 1B, and he can learn directly from a GG 1B, and a true professional. I assume that Alex Verdugo was not invited because of the number of OFs already on the roster and the number of other invitees.

    I am really interested in seeing how Chris Anderson pans out.  I think he will probably be looked at as a possible late inning relief.  It’s possible that he is also going to be put on display for an end of ST trade.  I twill also be interesting to see how Bonilla performs after a year off.  He was highly regarded at one time.

    Both Farmer and Zarraga should get good innings while Grandal builds up his shoulder strength.  Ellis will catch Kershaw, and Barnes will get a lot of opportunities behind the plate.

    This should be a good ST, and could answer a lot of questions, or generate a lot more.  Less than 4 weeks until pitchers and catchers report.

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