My NRIs Have Seen the Glory

One way to tell the difference between a baseball fan who has a life and a true sicko is whether they have strong opinions on players who sign minor league contracts and attend spring training on a non-roster invite. The person in a Cubs hat who’s stoked about the Kyle Tucker trade and knows all sorts of intimate biographical details about Shota Imanaga? That’s your friend. If they start talking to you about Travis Jankowski, they might be in a little too deep.

We sickos know that while championships can be won and glory earned on the major league free agent market, NRIs are nonetheless a meaningful collection of useful roster players. Sometimes more. I’d argue that these fringe hopefuls are the only players who truly stand to gain by their performance in camp.

Moreover, these players are by definition underdogs. They include former top prospects, guys recovering from injury, and itinerant Quad-A players hoping for one last spin of the wheel. If you weren’t interested in their progress on a competitive level, surely we can interest you in an underdog story.

As of Monday morning, there are 25 players who are 1) in camp on a non-roster invite and 2) in line for an Opening Day roster spot, according to RosterResource’s depth charts. I’m not going to go into all 25 of these players in detail, but this strikes me as a great opportunity to deploy the only thing I love more than a good underdog story: A flimsy taxonomy.

What circumstances might lead to a player on an NRI breaking camp with the big club? Let’s examine them, from least to most desirable.

I’m going to try not to be any meaner than necessary here, but all six of these players were below replacement level in 2024, and all of them signed with last-place teams. That characterization might be a little uncharitable to Stewart and Davis in particular. Davis was an average regular in 2023, and Stewart showed flashes of on-base ability last year. But neither could command either a major league contract or a role with a better team. (“Better” here could refer to either the franchise’s likelihood of being competitive in 2025, or its reputation for developing players.)

It’s a vicious cycle. Team loses a bunch, gets rid of players, struggles to attract high-quality free agents, continues losing, and so on and so forth. But a major league paycheck is a major league paycheck, and if these guys exceed expectations maybe they’ll get traded.

This group consists of players who probably shouldn’t have expected to fetch a major league contract to begin with, but are currently lined up for supporting roles on teams that should at least be in and around the playoff picture.

Reetz backed into the Mets’ no. 2 catcher role when Francisco Alvarez broke his hamate bone and the Mets had only one other catcher, Luis Torrens, on the 40-man roster. Across the city, Austin Wells’ emergence left the Yankees with a highly overqualified backup catcher in Jose Trevino, so they flipped him to Cincinnati for a bullpen flier and a more suitable backstop. Jackson can’t hit even a little, but he’s a good defender and he’s cheap.

Pillar and Miller were both better in the 2010s than they are now, but the former actually hit lefties well last year (.310 with decent power), and the latter was great out of the Dodgers’ bullpen in 2023. If he pitches that well again, great. If he stinks, the Diamondbacks have other low-leverage middle relief options.

At this point, these four players are all on contracts that fit their status as fringe major leaguers. Congratulations on making the team, but don’t unpack all the way just yet.

Straw and Montero both came from humble origins, and both signed long-term contracts in 2022. Both performed so terribly on those contracts that they were DFA’d and outrighted off the 40-man by the end of 2024. In Straw’s case, he got traded as well, bound for Toronto (a club that loves speedy no-hit outfielders more than I love a flimsy taxonomy) in a salary dump.

Neither is worth what they’re getting paid. For Montero, that’s $11.5 million this year; for Straw, it’s $11.8 million over two seasons after you factor in options, buyouts, and the cash Cleveland added to the deal. (Which is quite a statement; there’s bad, and then there’s one of the cheapest teams in the league paying to get rid of you bad.) But maybe they can still fill a small role on a major league roster. Spring is the time of new beginnings, after all, and I like to be optimistic.

Trivino and Fulmer are both recovering from Tommy John surgery. Trivino last pitched in the majors in 2022; his only professional contribution since then consisted of 11 innings in the minor leagues at the end of last season. It feels like Fulmer’s major league career has lived and died 100 times in the past decade, but he rehabbed on Boston’s dime last year. In return, the Red Sox get first crack at him in 2025.

These guys all played in the majors last year, to a greater or lesser extent, and went into the offseason without any major health concerns. (Poche was a little banged up last year, but he still made 43 appearances with a 3.86 ERA, and he’s pitching now, so that counts as healthy for an ex-Rays pitcher.)

All these guys have question marks, but they’re also all veterans with the clout to choose their preferred landing spot. That probably has something to do with the Braves making out like bandits in getting two pretty solid relievers on a tryout deal. Or Iglesias being able to command a contract that could be worth up to $4 million if he makes the Padres’ roster and hits all his incentives — it’s a major league deal in all but name.

Or the Astros landing Rodgers. Houston spent all winter preparing Jose Altuve for a move to the outfield in order to make room for either Nolan Arenado or Alex Bregman, and at this juncture Altuve still looks like he’s headed to left field regardless. That opens up second base for either utilityman Mauricio Dubón or Rodgers. You trivia buffs might be tickled by the fact that the Astros got rid of the no. 2 and no. 5 picks in the 2015 draft (Bregman and Tucker, respectively), but added the no. 3 pick: Rodgers. The fourth overall pick that year, Dillon Tate, remains a free agent.

Rodgers wasn’t great last year (an 88 wRC+ in 539 PA and 0.8 WAR), but he’s a right-handed hitter who no longer has to deal with all of the externalities of playing in Coors Field. As a right-handed hitter, he might find the Crawford Boxes enticing. The former Enron Field is a hitter’s park at just 20 feet above sea level.

And while the Astros are no longer the all-conquering juggernaut they once were, they should still be a contender. In fact, seven of these eight players landed with a team that made the postseason in 2024. Free agents want to get paid, and they want to play, but they also want to win.

This is the best reason to have an NRI in camp: A prospect gets so good, so quickly, he’s a projected starter before the team is even obliged to put him on the 40-man roster.

Sasaki is obviously a special case; he’s young enough to sign as an international free agent, and because the Dodgers’ 40-man roster is made up entirely of injured pitchers, they’re kicking the can down the road as long as they can before they officially put him on the big league squad.

Shaw, a 2023 first-rounder out of Maryland, hit .284/.379/.488 across two minor league levels last year. His performance was such that the Cubs felt comfortable sending not just Isaac Paredes but 2024 first-rounder Cam Smith — both young third basemen — to Houston in the Tucker deal. The starting third base job is his to lose.

Baldwin would probably not be in line to make the Braves if Sean Murphy hadn’t gotten hurt; the priority for a player his age is to give him reps, either in the majors or in Triple-A. But with Murphy injured, Baldwin — who lit up both Triple-A and the Arizona Fall League in 2024 — might as well get a crack in the majors.

All three of these guys are top-15 global prospects, and therefore not your typical NRI. But they do fit the literal definition, if only for now. If they’re not on the 40-man roster yet, they will be very soon.

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