Spring Training Non-Roster Invitees Announced
The Orioles announced 19 Spring Training non-roster invitees Thursday morning. All eyes will likely be on the 11 pitchers called into spring camp, as the orioles still have not addressed their woeful rotation.
Josh Edgin, Jhan Mariñez, and Asher Wojciechowski are the only pitchers called into camp with more than 40 innings pitched in the major leagues.
Edgin is the most likely to find himself on the opening day roster, as he has the most major league experience and is a lefty. With Zach Britton on the shelf with a ruptured Achilles the Orioles will need another lefty to step in.
Edgin has a career 3.49 era across 129 innings. Edgin has been successful against lefties, who only hit .223 against him. A paticular bright spot of Edgin is that he doesn’t walk lefties. In 295 plate appearances, Edgin only walked 21 batters.
The three big names among the position players are Ryan Mountcastle, Cedric Mullins, and DJ Stewart who are rated as the third, fifth and 18th best prospects in the Orioles system. All three were drafted in 2015, with Mountcastle and Stewart being taken in the first round and Mullins in the 11th. This will be the first big league camp for all three.
Mountcastle is probably the most exciting of the three. He is rated as the 98th best prospect in the MLB. He lead the minor leagues last season in doubles with 48. In his first three professional seasons, Mountcastle has put up solid offenisve numbers. He has a .286 batting average while hitting 32 home runs and driving in 132 runs.
The 20 year old shortstop will have big shoes to fill once Manny Machado leaves, however if he can put up similar numbers in the minors this year he will be poised to take over in 2019.
