Rockies announce non-roster players for 2015 Spring Training
Twenty-Four Players Receive Non-Roster Invitations
The Colorado Rockies announced today the club's non-roster players for this year's Major League Spring Training camp. Below is the current list of 24 players, broken down by position.
LH-Pitchers (7)
Buddy Boshers
Yohan Flande
Jason Gurka
Aaron Laffey
John Lannan
Kenny Roberts
Kraig Sitton
RH-Pitchers (9)
John Axford
Rafael Betancourt
Jon Gray
Jair Jurrjens
Brett Marshall
Justin Miller
Scott Oberg
Jose Ortega
Gus Schlosser
Infielders (2)
Omar Quintanilla
Trevor Story
Outfielders (2)
Roger Bernadina
Matt McBride
Catchers (4)
Ryan Casteel
Dustin Garneau
Tommy Murphy
Audry Perez
Of the 16 pitchers that received non-roster invites to Rockies' camp, 11 have previous Major League service time, led by Rafael Betancourt (10.079). Betancourt is one of three pitchers that have appeared in a Major League game for Colorado, along with Yohan Flande (0.070) and Jair Jurrjens (4.167). The other eight pitchers with previous service time are: John Axford (4.170), Buddy Boshers (0.051), Aaron Laffey (4.083), John Lannan (5.064), Brett Marshall (0.116), Justin Miller (0.096), Jose Ortega (0.059) and Gus Schlosser (0.062).
Four of the pitchers were originally drafted by Colorado, including Jon Gray (First round, 3rd overall, in 2013), Scott Oberg (15th round of 2012), Kenny Roberts (25th round of 2010) and Kraig Sitton (7th round of 2010). The lone non-roster pitcher to come to Colorado via trade was Gus Schlosser, whom the Rockies acquired along with David Hale from Atlanta in exchange for catchers Jose Briceno and Chris O'Dowd. All other players were signed to Minor League deals with invites to Major League camp during the offseason.
Omar Quintanilla (4.164) is returning to the organization he originally made his MLB debut with in 2005. Quintanilla played in parts of five seasons with Colorado from 2005-09. Trevor Story was selected by Colorado in the supplemental first round of the 2011 First-Year Player Draft. He is making his first appearance at Major League camp this spring.
Matt McBride will be a member of the Rockies Big League camp for the fourth-straight season in 2015. McBride (0.083) has appeared in the Majors with Colorado in both 2012 and 2014 seasons. Roger Bernadina (5.087) signed with Colorado as a Minor League free agent during the offseason. He has played in the Majors in each of the past seven seasons, since 2008.
Three of the four catchers to receive an invite to big league camp were originally selected by Colorado in the First-Year Player Draft (Ryan Casteel - 17th round in 2010), Dustin Garneau - 19th round in 2009 and Tommy Murphy - 3rd round in 2012). Audry Perez signed with Colorado during the offseason. He has appeared in the Majors with St. Louis in each of the past two seasons (0.030).
Pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report on Saturday, Feb. 19. The first full squad workout is Monday, Feb. 27.