Reds invite 18 players to non-big league spring training

The Cincinnati Reds have invited 18 players to Goodyear, Arizona to partake in spring training alongside the big leaguers. Those players, however, are not going to be in big league camp. That doesn’t mean they won’t see some time in big league games during the spring, but they won’t be there every day. With COVID-19 still making it’s way around, spring training is going to be different this year, with organizations having MLB and Triple-A spring training at the same time, while the other minor league levels won’t begin their spring training until after those guys are finished.

This group feels like a mixture of players headed for Triple-A (along with some of the guys in big league camp who won’t make the 26-man roster), as well as a few prospects who will be getting a bit of a head start on the year who will be heading to other levels once things start up. Here’s the list of the 18 players that Cincinnati invited out early to spring training.

A few of these guys not being invited to big league spring training is a bit surprising. Or at least in a normal year the lack of an invitation would be surprising. With the limitations on how everything is being operated in spring training this year, your typical “prospect not competing for a spot gets an invite” situation doesn’t quite make as much sense.

Guys like Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, and Jonathan India are considered both top end prospects, as well as likely being somewhat close – those guys in the past almost assuredly would have been extended normal non-roster invites. The catchers, if for no other reason that you need so many of them to catch the number of pitchers in camp, would likely have been invited as non-roster players, too. That’s not to be this year, though it probably doesn’t make much of a difference in a spring like this one as they’ll be around to do that job anyways.

A few of the guys on this list spent some time playing winter league baseball. Narcisco Crook posted an .849 OPS for Licey in 14 games during the Dominican Winter League regular season and capped off the regular season with a 3-homer game. Alejo Lopez played in 49 games for Monterrey in the Mexican Winter League and he hit .286 with 11 walks and just 21 strikeouts in 210 plate appearances.

Reiver Sanmartin pitched for Colombia in the Caribbean Series. The left-handed starter made just one start, but pitched very well as he allowed one run in 5.0 innings on 3 hits with no walks and he picked up 8 strikeouts.