San Francisco Giants: Meet this Year’s 16 Non-Roster Invitees

Another year, another non-roster invitee list. Meet the 16 players who will try to crack the San Francisco Giants’ roster in 2018.

On Thursday, the San Francisco Giants announced their list of non-roster invitees, adding more players to a group with plenty of new faces.

There are three players who previously played with the Giants and are trying to return. Most notable in that group is catcher Hector Sanchez. He played for the Giants from 2011 to 2015, but is probably most remembered for being a Giant killer in 2017 with the San Diego Padres. Against San Francisco pitching, Sanchez hit .300/.323/.767 with four of his eight home runs and 11 of his 25 runs batted in.

Utility player Orlando Calixte and catcher Trevor Brown are also back as non-roster players. Calixte appeared in a few short stints with the team last season, but struggled to a .143/.185/.163 slash-line in 29 games. He was designated for assignment earlier this offseason, but is still just 25 years old (26 in February) and quite versatile.

Brown had a nice year in 2016 as Buster Posey’s backup, but was bumped down with the Nick Hundley signing. 2017 was a lost year, as he battled injuries and struggled badly with the bat in Triple-A when he wasn’t on the disabled list. He’s also only 26 years old, but is no longer on the 40-man roster. With Aramis Garcia on the roster, Brown is, at best, fourth on the catching depth chart.

As is customary, the Giants brought in plenty of other players with big league experience. Maybe the most interesting name in that group is Alen Hanson, a utility infielder than has started playing outfield in recent years. Hanson was a top-100 prospect three times on MLB Pipeline (twice on Baseball America) in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ organization, and brings plenty of speed with him (205 minor league stolen bases). He’s just 25, but his bat hasn’t translated to the big leagues yet (.221/.262/.346 in 106 games last season). Maybe he can be one of new hitting coach Alonzo Powell’s first projects.

Pitchers Jose Valdez and Madison Younginer have been invited to big league camp as well. Valdez has appeared in the big leagues in three straight seasons, but posted a 5.72 ERA and 1.450 WHIP in 46 games. He brings a hard fastball, averaging over 96 miles per hour in his career, but has struck out only 7.7 batters per nine innings in his career. Younginer pitched in eight games for the 2016 Atlanta Braves, but spent all of 2017 with the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Triple-A team as a reliever with less-than-stellar results (4.76 ERA and 1.524 WHIP, but 10.1 K/9).

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Infielders Chase d’Arnaud, Josh Rutledge, and Kyle Jensen will also join the team in Arizona. d’Arnaud is a utility infielder, having played shortstop, third base, and second base with somewhat regularity with some outfield sprinkled in. He hasn’t done much with the bat, posting a .223/.278/.306 slash-line in parts of six big league seasons with five different teams.

Rutledge also has played all over the infield, including some first base, but has had more success with the bat than d’Arnaud. Rutledge owns a .258/.310/.384 slash-line in six seasons. He hit the disabled list three times with the Boston Red Sox last season.

Jensen is the least experienced of this trio, having played in just 17 big league games, all back in 2016 with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He didn’t appear in the major or minor leagues in 2017, but played in six games with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in NPB. He had a huge campaign in Triple-A back in 2016, hitting .287/.350/.546 while slugging 34 doubles, 30 home runs, 120 RBI, and a 133 wRC+.

Jensen was listed as an infielder on the Giants list, but has played more corner outfield than first base in his minor league career. He will turn 30 in May.

But the players that everybody wants to see are the prospects. Pitchers Andrew Suarez and Tyler Cyr, and outfielders Chris Shaw and Steven Duggar will be in big league camp, and all four will be competing for big league jobs. Suarez, a left-handed starter, is one of the team’s best pitching prospects, and will have the opportunity to compete for an open spot in the rotation. Suarez pitched to a 3.30 ERA and 1.336 WHIP in 26 games (24 starts) between Double-A and Triple-A last season.

Cyr is a right-handed reliever who enjoyed a breakout season last year in Double-A Richmond. He appeared 47 games and recorded 18 saves with a 2.19 ERA while striking out 10.4 batters per nine innings. His WHIP was fairly high at 1.419, but he possesses a killer sinker that would play extremely well with the Giants’ tremendous defensive infield behind him. He will try to sneak into the job left vacant by the trade of Kyle Crick.

Duggar’s name has been thrown around all offseason, with the possibility he opens the season as the team’s everyday center fielder. The Giants are extremely high on him, obviously, but injuries limited his rise last season and he has played in only 13 games at Triple-A. With a good showing in Spring Training, he could take the job, though it isn’t a necessity with the addition of Austin Jackson.

Shaw is one of the team’s top hitting prospects, and is very close to finding himself at AT&T Park. He possesses a ton of power, hitting 35 doubles and 24 home runs in the minor leagues last season, and is an exciting potential addition to the middle of the Giants’ order. When he comes up, and where he plays when he comes up, are two questions the Giants will have to answer soon.

There are three other players who fall into the “not-quite-prospects who are trying to make it for the first time” category. Those are pitchers Jose Flores and Dereck Rodriguez, and catcher Justin O’Conner. Flores is 28 years old and has 11 years in the minor leagues under his belt, including a year with the Giants in 2017. He made 31 total appearances, including 19 starts between Double-A and Triple-A, and put together a solid year with a 3.21 ERA and 1.214 WHIP, and nearly a strikeout per inning.

Rodriguez is another interesting name. He’s the son of Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez, and spent three years in the Minnesota Twins’ system as an outfielder before converting to a full-time pitcher. He had a solid year in 2017 in High-A and Double-A, posting a 3.27 ERA and 1.193 WHIP mostly as a starter. He’s still only 25 years old, and has made strong improvements since changing positions.

O’Conner rounds out the catching crew, and is yet another 25-year-old who was a former top-100 prospect. He made the MLB.com list before the 2015 season, but has struggled badly with the bat at higher levels of the minor leagues. In Double-A, he’s hit .233/.272/.376 over four separate seasons at the level, and hit just .194/.225/.299 in his first taste of Triple-A action last year. He is known for his strong arm behind the plate.

Next: Giants Add Austin Jackson

One notable name not on this list is Chris Heston. The former Giants’ right-hander is back with the team after bouncing around the league last year, but won’t be joining the big league team in camp. Instead, he will be in minor league camp trying to find the form that made him one of the team’s most reliable pitchers in 2015.

With so many players still available on the free agent market, this list will probably expand in the coming weeks before Spring Training starts. But for now, these are the 16 non-roster invitees.