photo: Dakota Hudson (Springfield Cardinals FANatic Photos)
While the St. Louis Cardinals have not yet issued their formal press release naming their non-roster player invitations (NRIs) to 2018 major league spring training camp, a list of 23 invitees was disclosed on Tuesday by Rob Rains of StL Sports Page.
The 23 names are denoted with a “yes” in the “Rains ann” column in the table below. They include four top 10 members of The Cardinal Nation’s 2018 prospect list – pitchers Dakota Hudson, Jordan Hicks and Ryan Helsley plus catcher Andrew Knizner.
| Pitchers | 2017 | Top 50 | 1st camp | Rains ann (10) | BW score |
| Fernandez, Junior | PB | 17 | miss – | ||
| Helsley, Ryan | Spr | 9 | yes | yes | |
| Hicks, Jordan | Spr | 7 | yes | yes | |
| Hudson, Dakota | Mem | 6 | yes | yes | |
| Jones, Connor | Spr | 23 | yes | miss – | |
| Morales, Andrew | Spr | HM | yes | miss – | |
| Poncedeleon, Daniel | Mem | 31 | yes | ||
| Woodford, Jake | PB | 18 | yes | ||
| Gilmartin, Sean (L) * | Mem | yes # | yes | ||
| Guilmet, Preston * | Japan | yes # | yes | ||
| Pearce, Matt * | Mem | 35 | yes | miss – | |
| Reyes, Arturo * | Mem | HM | yes | ||
| Schafer, Jordan * | Mem | yes | |||
| Mendoza, Hector * | PB | yes | yes | miss + | |
| Catchers | 2017 | Top 50 | 1st camp | Rains ann (5) | BW score |
| Knizner, Andrew | Spr | 8 | yes | ||
| Martinez, Jeremy | PB | HM | yes | ||
| Ortega, Dennis | Peo | HM | yes | ||
| Rodriguez, Julio | JC | HM | yes | miss – | |
| Pena, Francisco * | AAA | yes # | yes | ||
| Baron, Steven * | AA | yes # | yes | ||
| Infielders | 2017 | Top 50 | 1st camp | Rains ann (6) | BW score |
| Edman, Tommy | Spr | 27 | yes | yes | |
| Mejia, Alex * | Mem | yes | yes | ||
| Schrock, Max * | AA | 15 | yes # | yes | |
| Wisdom, Patrick * | Mem | 40 | yes | ||
| Ravelo, Rangel | Mem | yes | yes | miss + | |
| Tovar, Wilfredo | Mem | yes | miss + | ||
| Outfielders | 2017 | Top 50 | 1st camp | Rains ann (2) | BW score |
| Garcia, Adolis | Mem | 12 | yes | ||
| Arozarena, Randy * | Spr | 13 | yes | yes | |
| * Not at Instructs | |||||
| # with Cardinals | |||||
| HM honorable mention |
The table was originally created to display my earlier NRI predictions for members of The Cardinal Nation and has been updated to incorporate the Rains report. Of the 25 names I guessed would be invited, I got 20 right.
The three I missed were Cuban pitcher Hector Mendoza, who finished last season at high-A Palm Beach, and Memphis infielders Rangel Ravelo and Wilfredo Tovar. The trio are noted in the far right column as “miss +”.
The five players I predicted would receive invitations but apparently did not, are called out with “miss -“. They are pitchers Junior Fernandez, Connor Jones, Andrew Morales and Matt Pearce and catcher Julio Rodriguez.
Of course, there could be changes even after the formal announcement, such as last spring when pitchers Fernandez and Jake Woodford were late big-league camp additions.
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Brian Walton can be reached via email at brian@thecardinalnation.com. Follow Brian on Twitter.
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