A surefire way to tell you’re obsessed with baseball in a potentially unhealthy way is if you actively seek out Non-Roster Invitees to see who is headed where this spring. Additionally, I could easily lie to y’all and say I only did it for this piece, but it was the opposite. I was there on MLB.com perusing each team’s NRIs and then decided to write about the ones the O’s are bringing in.
(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)
Let’s be honest, most NRIs are NRIs for a reason. They’re just not expected to make the roster for any number of reasons, the two most common being: last-ditch retreads getting a shot and prospects who are almost certainly a couple years out. Sometimes they are former impact players who are coming back from major injury or maybe a couple years of severe under-performance. The other big one is former prospects who haven’t lived up to expectations with their first (and sometimes second) organization.
If I’m being honest (and I proved earlier that I am when I chose not to lie), the O’s list is underwhelming compared to some others, but here are three interesting NRIs to watch in March:
Xavier Avery | 26 years old – OF – LHB: Yep, Avery is back. After failing to latch on with Seattle, Minnesota, Detroit, or San Francisco, he’s back in camp with Baltimore. I honestly could’ve put L.J. Hoes here, too. I didn’t want to spend two spots on them since they’re pretty similar. Hoes only went to Houston in the interim and found some playing time, but couldn’t make anything of it. He’s also 26 years old. In the end, I chose Avery over Hoes because of the handedness. When you’ve got nearly identical profiles, go with the better platoon advantage.
Avery’s chances at playing time slim further if the Dexter Fowler rumors come to fruition, but there is still bench bat potential if something clicks for him. Nolan Reimold and Joey Rickard are currently penciled in by RosterResource, both right-handers, though Rickard was a Rule 5 pick so they’ll be looking for reasons to keep him whereas Avery will have to truly standout. Still, Reimold’s health is far from a guarantee.
Andy Oliver | 28 years old – RP – LHP: Oliver had some decent results in 29 relief innings at Norfolk last year (3.72 ERA, 1.35 WHIP), but it’s hard to overlook the five walks per nine rate he had, which is actually an improvement over his six walks per nine minor league rate over 641 innings. A big issue for Oliver has been the fact that he’s not even a LOOGY as he carries reverse platoon splits since 2011 (LHB are +46 OPS pts). Usually a lefty who does better against righties is noteworthy given how much the lefty-lefty matchup favors the pitcher.
Oliver has big heat and two reliable secondary pitches, but he can’t regularly command any of it. FanGraphs tells us that a 9% walk rate is “awful”. Oliver is at 15% for his minor league career. Him simply being awful with his walk rate would be a drastic improvement and maybe one big enough to finally deliver some consistency.
Hunter Harvey | 20 years old – SP – RHP: I told ya it’s a thin list and I realize Harvey is a bit obvious so I put him last. There’s obviously no chance he makes the club, but it will be nice to see him pitch. He’s been throwing issue-free for a month per the last Rotoworld update. He could be lined up for a few early starts with the big league club and ideally at least one would be televised, but either way we’ll get reports on the young righty. He still remains a huge part of this organization’s future. Just getting through the Grapefruit League will be a success.
Paul Sporer is currently a contributor to FanGraphs / RotoGraphs. He has worked for/still works for Rotowire, Baseball Prospectus, Rotogrinders, The Fantasy Fix, Draft Day, and PaintTheBlack.com – his own website centered around pitching. Additionally, he’s written for several Baseball Prospectus Annuals, contributed to Rotowire’s 2015 magazine, and spoken at a couple of BaseballHQ First Pitch Arizona events. His popular starting pitching guide is available at paulsporer.com.