The Rays added 18 players to their Spring Training roster on Friday, a group that included 13 promising prospects from their system and five pitchers signed to Minor League deals.

Tampa Bay invited six of its Top 30 Prospects (per MLB Pipeline) to Major League Spring Training: infielder Xavier Edwards (No. 5); right-handers Shane Baz (No. 6) and Joe Ryan (No. 11); infielder Greg Jones (No. 13); outfielder Moisés Gómez (No. 17); and catcher Blake Hunt (No. 24). The club previously announced a round of non-roster invitees headlined by shortstop Wander Franco, the No. 1 prospect in baseball.

The Rays also invited the following prospects to big league camp: infielder Tristan Gray; infielder/outfielder Miles Mastrobuoni; outfielders Ryan Boldt, Nathan Lukes and Garrett Whitley; and catchers Chris Betts and René Pinto. The first workout for pitchers and catchers takes place Thursday, before the club’s first full-squad workout on Feb. 23

Additionally, the Rays announced that they agreed to terms on non-roster Minor League contracts with left-hander Brian Moran and right-handers Stetson Allie, Louis Head, Joey Krehbiel (a Seminole, Fla., native) and Hunter Strickland.

Teams had to submit Spring Training rosters, with a maximum of 75 players, by Friday afternoon. After finalizing those invitations, the Rays have 73 players on their spring roster, but they seem prepared to add to that group.

The Rays reached agreements on Friday night with veteran left-hander Rich Hill and righty Collin McHugh, deals that are pending physicals and likely won’t be completed until after camp opens. By that point, however, the club should be able to clear space on their Spring Training and 40-man rosters by moving injured/rehabbing players to the 60-day injured list. Players on the 60-day IL don’t count against either total, giving the Rays more flexibility to acquire more depth, if they feel so inclined.

Friday’s wave of non-roster invitees will offer the Rays a mix of additional pitching depth and a few glimpses of their future.

The 21-year-old Baz, part of the Rays’ return in the Chris Archer trade in July 2018, spent last summer at the club’s alternate training site in Port Charlotte, Fla. Now that Archer is back with Tampa Bay, it’s possible the veteran right-hander will share a field at some point during camp with all three players he was traded for: Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows and Baz.

Edwards, Jones, Pinto and Ryan also spent time at the Rays’ alternate site last season. Hunt, acquired in the Blake Snell trade in December, spent about a month at the Padres’ alternate training site and participated in the club’s instructional league camp in October. Betts, Boldt, Gómez, Gray and Whitley took part in the Rays’ instructional league camp.

Allie, 29, didn’t play with the Red Sox last season after splitting 2019 between Double-A and Triple-A in the Dodgers' organization. Selected by the Pirates as a pitcher in the second round of the 2010 MLB Draft, Allie bounced around the infield and outfield before returning to the mound during the '17 season. He is a hard thrower who’s posted a 6.52 ERA with high strikeout (149) and walk (112) totals over 118 2/3 innings in the Minors. He is said to have been throwing more strikes with a fastball sitting in the mid-to-upper 90s during his offseason workouts.

Head, 30, signed as a Minor League free agent with the Mariners in February 2020, but he was released on May 27. Over eight seasons in the Minors, the reliever is 19-19 with a 3.67 ERA and 427 strikeouts in 294 appearances.

Krehbiel, 28, did not pitch last season, as he wasn’t assigned to the Twins’ 60-man player pool. A former teammate of Rays outfielder Brett Phillips at Seminole High School, he reached the Majors with the D-backs in 2018, and made two scoreless appearances. In nine Minor League seasons, the righty reliever has gone 16-25 with a 4.07 ERA and 537 strikeouts in 449 innings over 371 outings.

Strickland, 32, was a regular in the Giants’ bullpen late last decade, as he put together a 3.00 ERA while averaging 61 outings per season in San Francisco from 2015-18. He made his fifth straight Opening Day roster with the Mets last season, but he was designated for assignment twice and accepted a pair of outright assignments to their alternate training site. Over the past two years, he owns a 5.86 ERA in 27 2/3 innings over 32 appearances.

Moran, 32, made history in his Major League debut on Sept. 5, 2019, by striking out his brother, Pirates infielder Colin Moran. The left-hander with a funky delivery finished that season with the Marlins and began last year with the Blue Jays, making their Opening Day roster before Miami claimed him off waivers on Aug. 2. He posted a 9.64 ERA in seven games before eventually landing on the 45-day injured list with right knee patella tendinitis.

The Rays are currently in line to have only two healthy lefty relievers on their 40-man roster at the start of camp -- Ryan Sherriff and Cody Reed -- so Moran could provide valuable depth. In the Minors, he recorded a 3.15 ERA and 1.21 WHIP with 549 strikeouts in 466 1/3 innings over 344 appearances.