Spring Traning means finally getting to see James Shields, David Price, and Matt Moore pitch again after a long winter. It's our first look at acquisitions like Fernando Rodney, Burke Badenhop, and Josh Lueke. Prospects like Chris Archer, Wilking Rodriguez, and Albert Suarez will also pitch in. But with everyone on tight pich counts in March, the 40-man roster isn't enough to cover the needed innings. Enter the non-roster invitees. In years past, the Rays have made good use of the NRIs, bringing in Carlos Pena, Joaquin Benoit, Al Reyes, and Juan Cruz into camp under that classification.
This year, the odds don't look so good. The Rays have seven pitchers as NRIs. Marquis Fleming, Ryan Reid, Ricky Orta, and Matt Torra were with the organization last year (though Torra was released and then brought back) while Jhonny Nunez, Bryan Augenstein, and Romulo Sanchez are new faces. While none have a real path to a big-league spot, here's some info on the ones you might be unfamiliar with.
For every high selection like Taylor Guerrieri or Mikie Mahtook each draft, there is a player like Shay Crawford.
A player that most people don't know much about and is one of the multitudes of faceless minor leaguers toiling away in the small cities of America, playing the game they love in relative obscurity.
A player who is drafted with little fanfare and who has the odds stacked against him to move up in the organization and get a shot at playing in the majors.
A player who didn't get a huge draft bonus and has to work in the off-season to make ends meet.
The minors are full of players like these and the Rays Shay Crawford is one them. After hearing his story, it is hard not to root for guys like him. They play the game knowing in the back of their minds that it could all end any day, but continue on undaunted, because they love baseball and they just can't leave the sport without giving it their best shot to try and make it to the major leagues.
Shay Crawford's story is inspiring, but in many ways it isn't unique. There have been, and will continue to be, thousands of players like him. Some of them will defy the odds and one day step foot on the grass at a major league ballpark to finally live out their dream. The sad reality is though, that many will not. After talking to Shay Crawford, I'm hoping that he is one of the ones that makes it.
His story after the jump.
Continuing with our look at how the lineups might look for the Rays affiliates. If you missed Durham's, you can find it here. This week: Montgomery Biscuits.
Catcher - Mark Thomas, Craig Albernaz, David Wendt
Thomas was the regular catcher last season with Charlotte, where he hit .237/.299/.393. His name came up on a few Rule 5 preview pieces, but that had more to do with the shallow pool of talent in this year's draft than Thomas being a big prospect. He has decent defensive skills -- he's thrown out 41% of basestealers in his career and could've probably stuck in the majors as a defense-first backup, had he been selected -- but his bat hasn't taken the necessary steps forward since an .867 OPS in his 2007 debut with Princeton. He knocked a career-high 13 home runs with the Stone Crabs in 2011, but he doesn't hit or get on base enough to provide any real value with the stick. He's still young, entering his age 24 season, so he still has a shot to make the bigs as a back-up someday; failing that, he has a future as the next Nevin Ashley. Albernaz and Wendt are both org players, ready to be deployed wherever the Rays have a need for a catcher.
First Base - Henry Wrigley
Just as we did with the pitchers, it's time to take a glance at how the full-season affiliate lineups might stack up, beginning with the Durham Bulls.
Catcher - Robinson Chirinos, Nevin Ashley
Catcher remains the position the Rays are most likely to upgrade before the season starts, but as of now the Jose duo of Molina and Lobaton seem to have spots on the major-league roster locked up. That leaves Chirinos, who hit .259/.343/.376 with the Bulls last season, and Nevin Ashley, who hit .263/.358/.384 between Montgomery and Durham. Ashley was DFA'd to make room for Luke Scott but cleared waivers and was outrighted to triple-A. If the Rays go with Molina and Lobaton, that leaves just Chirinos as the only true catcher on the 40-man roster. Stephen Vogt is listed as a catcher but has played fewer than a quarter of his career games behind the plate.
First Base - Juan Miranda, Leslie Anderson, Russ Canzler (?)
It's no secret that the Tampa Bay Rays organization operates on a shoe-string budget in comparison to a lot of other major league clubs. But the franchise has managed to close the gap with their rivals and field a competitive team - making the post-season three out of the past four seasons - by being creative and investing their limited resources in such a way as to maximize every available means to produce quality and productive major league players.
One such way is the Rays' emphasis on player development.
Perhaps no other organization in baseball is as reliant on their farm system to cultivate players to populate their big league roster as the Rays are - and because of that - player development is among the top priorities for the franchise.
The Rays have many programs in place to help increase the odds on developing young talent and the recently held Winter Development Program is one of them.
28 of the best minor league players in the system were in St. Petersburg earlier this month for the four day camp and Rays director of Minor League Development Mitch Lukevics believes that conducting programs like these are an essential part of the player development process.
"When they're at home you can't see them. It's very difficult. In the off-season they are all over the world. So we have a nice program here where we can see them. There are so many advantages to bringing the player in and and putting them under our coaching staff's eyes. We'll reap the benefits down the road from that."
Thanks to Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) for tweeting out the full list. You can find this list in the Baseball America Prospect Handbook:
So Josh Sale and Robinson Chirinos both didn't make the list. Any other notable omissions or odd rankings that you notice?
Jacob Faria was the Rays tenth round pick in the 2011 June Amateur Draft out of Gahr High School in Cerritos, California. In three years pitching for the Gladiators he was 18-3 with one save and made 21 starts while posting a 1.75 earned run average.
According to Wikipedia, Gahr is one of the most ethnically diverse high school's in the country, with minorities making up over 70 percent of the school's population. It has also graduated quite a few current and former Major League players including: Bret Barberie, Shane Mack, Kris Medlen, Tom Nieto, and Al Osuna, as well as former Seattle Seahhawks quarterback Jim Zorn.
Faria began his professional career last season as a 17-year-old in the Gulf Coast League and more than held his own pitching to a 2.78 earned run average in 15.2 innings.
He was kind enough to talk to me over the phone last week from his home in California where we discussed his preparations for the 2012 season, his decision-making process in deciding to sign with the Rays, what his first taste of professional baseball was like and much, much more.
The entire interview is after the jump.
I caught up briefly with Rays 2011 2nd round draft pick Lenny Linsky after workouts at the Rays Winter Development Program on Wednesday. He discussed his experience at the camp, how he is preparing for the 2012 season and how he tries to approach pitching.
John Gregg: What are some of the things you’ve been working on here at Development Camp and how has your experience been so far?
Lenny Linsky: The experience has been great. It’s been a real cool thing they put on for us. I feel honored just to be around all these great players and these great coaches. It’s been cool. There has been a lot of conditioning, working out, and just getting out to the public and meeting people. We went to MacDill yesterday, had a great time, and we want to thank those guys for their service over there. Today we’re going to a Boys & Girls Club, should be a great time as well.
John Gregg: Other than coming to Development Camp, what are some of the things you’ve been doing this off-season to prepare for Spring Training?
Lenny Linksy: I’ve been doing the workout program they assigned to us at the end of the season. I’ve also been surfing every day. It’s been a big part of my workout regimen and everyone makes a joke around here, but I really enjoy it. It’s a great time.
John Gregg: I’ve only surfed a couple of times, but it beat the heck out of my body, so I don’t think these guys know exactly what a workout you get.
Lenny Linsky: Yeah, they’ve been like "Really? You do surfing? Does that even work?" It’s a tough workout. Me and my best friend, Dino, back home we go out for 4-5 hours at a time and just stay out there. It’s a really good time.
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