With the Super Bowl now in the past and trucks already being shipped to Florida and Arizona filled with baseball gear, it’s time to officially start thinking about baseball season again.
While spring training will be filled with all of the usual suspects—Yadier Molina, Matt Holliday and Adam Wainwright to name a few—there will also be a number of new faces.
On Jan. 21, 2014, the Cardinals announced a total of 18 non-roster invitees that would be joining the squad at its camp in Jupiter, Fla.
Non-roster invitees can be either players already within the organization, or individuals outside the organization given a spring training invitation in an effort to allow them a chance to prove themselves to the front office. At that point, the hope would be to earn a major league contract.
While the Cardinals have a number of full positions, they also have several positions where they could possibly bring in backup assistance. It’s likely an additional pitcher or two will make their way into the roster, and a backup fielder, whether infield or outfield, could also find themselves in the mix for a position.
Will those lucky players be NRIs? The answer to that question can’t yet be known.
For the sake of this piece, I selected who I believe to be the five NRIs with a chance at making the major league team. Following are their odds for making the 25-man active roster from spring training.
Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and Fangraphs.com unless otherwise noted.
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