Non-Roster Invitees To Watch In Pittsburgh Pirates Spring Training

Finally, it is baseball season. Yay!

Ladies and gentlemen, baseball season is upon us. A day after pitchers and catchers reported to Bradenton, the Pittsburgh Pirates will hold their first workout of the spring this morning. After a long, boring, miserable winter it is once again time to hear the pop of a mitt and the crack of a bat.

The team’s first full squad workout will be on Friday. However, most of the players that have been invited to Spring Training are already in Bradenton. And this is always great to see.

As it is most years, the majority of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ roster is set as Spring Training approaches. But this will not stop players who do not have a spot on the 25-man roster from showing up to camp and competing.

Of the players showing up to Spring Training without a spot on the team, 23 of them are non-roster invitees. For those who do not know a non-roster invitee is a player who is not on the 40-man roster, but still gets an invite to Spring Training.

We have seen non-roster invitees make the Pirates’ roster in year’s past. The most recent being Matt Joyce last season. This season, however, I do not expect any of the non-roster invitees to make the team. But that does not mean there are not any non-roster invitees worth watching this spring, because that could not be further from the truth.