St. Louis Cardinals announce Spring Training non-roster invitations

The St. Louis Cardinals have announced eighteen non-roster invitations to minor league players that are not on the current 39-man roster.

Keep in mind that just because a player is invited to the big league camp, it does not mean that they will end up on the Opening Day roster. Some of this will help players get some major league-level experience during the spring training games.

During last year’s camp, Michael Wacha was amongst those that got an invite to the big league camp and was very impressive in nationally televised games.

PITCHERS (7): Jose Almarante, Tim Cooney, Sam Gaviglio, Marco Gonzales, Zach Petrick, Lee Stoppelman, Jordan Swagerty

CATCHERS (5): Ed Easley, Carson Kelly, Casey Rasmus, Cody Stanley, Travis Tartamella

INFIELDERS (4): Luis Mateo, Scott Moore, Xavier Scruggs, Patrick Wisdom

OUTFIELDERS (2): Stephen Piscotty, James Ramsey

Of the 18 NRIs, only 16 had played in the Cardinals organization. The two non-Cards players during the 2013 season are catcher Ed Easley and infielder Scott Moore. Easley hit .334 with Reno (AAA, PCL) last season and led al of catchers with 36% caught stealing. The Diamondbacks drafted him in the supplemental first round of the 2007 draft.

The Cardinals also announced some additional minor league coaching staff assignments today with Erik Pappas being named Hitting Coach at Springfield (AA), Jobel Jimenez as Hitting Coach at Peoria (A) and Kleininger Teran as Hitting Coach for the Gulf Coast League Cardinals (R).

Finally, Cardinals pitchers and catchers report to Jupiter, Fla. on Wednesday, February 12 and will be conducting their first workout on February 13. The full squad reports on February 17 and will begin workouts on February 18.