Top non-roster invitees to 2023 spring training

Veteran non-roster invitees face an uphill battle in breaking camp with their Major League clubs. As a result, they tend not to draw too much attention, especially because they're often competing with prospects for roster spots. But there are always a few familiar faces to be found in this category, players who have fallen off the radar but whose best moments you're likely to remember.

This year is no different. So, for your consideration, here are 12 notable non-roster invitees -- among them former top prospects, All-Stars, and World Series champions -- you may not have realized are still looking for another big league chance during Spring Training in 2023.

Jason Heyward, OF, Dodgers
Heyward’s final three years with the Cubs were difficult to say the least, and he faces an uphill battle in trying to claim a fourth outfielder spot with the Dodgers (he isn’t even the only former highly-touted outfield prospect on their list of non-roster invitees.) But he can still keep up with some of the best defensive outfielders in the game, and even an altogether average left-handed bat (Heyward had an OPS+ of 103 from 2010-19) can add a lot to a lineup, especially now that extreme shifts are out of the equation. In fact, there's already been talk of his revamped swing in 2023.

Stephen Piscotty, OF, Giants
Piscotty has only played two full Major League seasons. In both, he topped 20 home runs. And while injuries have interrupted his career at every turn, for the time being, he’s healthy, and the Giants' outfield is already nursing several injuries, potentially paving him a path back to the Majors.

Cole Hamels, LHP, Padres
Hamels has spent the last three years dealing with a severe shoulder injury and has openly acknowledged he’s treating 2023 as one last ride with his hometown team. Don’t let that distract you from how solid his body of work was in his most recent full season. As a well-traveled 35-year-old in 2019, Hamels posted a 3.81 ERA and had more than a strikeout per inning. He got a ton of value out of his cutter and changeup, and since he’s never exactly leaned on velocity to get outs, don’t discount the possibility of Hamels contributing in 2023.

Willie Calhoun, OF/DH, Yankees
For a while, Calhoun looked like a long-term outfield solution for the Rangers. In 2019, he hit 21 home runs over 83 games. After a difficult 2020 season, which opened with a broken jaw sustained on a hit by pitch, he seemed to be getting back on track in 2021 before another HBP broke his arm. Since then he’s appeared in just 22 Major League games and been traded once and designated for assignment twice. But it’s difficult to let go of that 40-homer pace he was on four years ago and what he might accomplish in better health.

Franchy Cordero, 1B/OF, Orioles
Eight years after Cordero ranked among the Padres’ Top 10 prospects, we’re still waiting for him to find his footing in the Majors. The power he flashed in the Minors has never quite translated, and his strikeouts have always managed to outweigh how hard he hits the ball (he has a career 11.0% barrel rate but has struck out in over a third of his plate appearances). Now he has an opportunity with the Orioles, who know a thing or two about nurturing raw talent – who knows, maybe 2023 will be the year?

Franmil Reyes, OF/DH, Royals
It’s been a strange few years for Reyes. He hit 37 homers in 2019, another 30 in 2021, had the metrics to prove it was for real (in both years he ranked in the 94th percentile in barrel rate), and still found himself the odd man out in Cleveland in 2022 when his sky-high whiff rate proved too costly to his overall production. But the Royals, who ranked 25th in home runs in 2022, could use a big bopper like Reyes, if he can return to familiar form.

Billy Hamilton, OF, White Sox
Perhaps more than anyone else on this list, Hamilton has a golden opportunity in 2023. With the pitch timer and new pace of play rules that will limit pitchers to two pickoff attempts per at-bat, stealing bases is going to get a whole lot easier, and Hamilton hasn’t lost much in terms of sprint speed since his heyday when he topped 50 stolen bases in four straight seasons from 2014-17.

Miguel Andújar, 3B/OF, Pirates
Andújar gave Shohei Ohtani some real competition for AL Rookie of the Year in 2018, then tore his right labrum diving into third base early in 2019. Things spiraled from there – by the time he’d gotten healthy again his job as the Yankees’ third baseman had been taken, and after a few frustrating seasons spent mostly in Triple-A he found his way to Pittsburgh last September. Critically, the polished young hitter who got our attention all those years ago is still in there -- in 71 games at Triple-A last season he hit .285/.330/.487 with 13 home runs and 51 RBIs -- and more than a few teams, including the one he’s currently on, would probably be willing to bet on his upside.

Kole Calhoun, OF, Mariners
From 2014-19, Calhoun slashed .248/.321/.424 and averaged 22 home runs per season, then hit 16 home runs in the abbreviated 2020 season, tied for third-most in the National League. In 2021, he was limited by hamstring issues and followed that up by hitting .196/.257/.330 in 2022. Paradoxically, though, he’d never made better contact in his life – his 48.2% hard-hit rate last season also compared extremely favorably against the rest of the Majors, ranking in the 89th percentile.

Ian Kennedy, RHP, Rangers
Kennedy had a strong year closing in 2021, ending with a 3.20 ERA and 1.10 WHIP. He followed that campaign with a brutal 2022 in which he ranked in the second percentile or lower in average exit velocity, barrel rate and chase rate. Notably, however, the movement and velocity on his four-seamer, which he has thrown more than 80% of the time over the past two seasons and powered that 2021 bounce-back, was virtually unchanged.

Mike Moustakas, INF/DH, Rockies
Since 2019, when Moustakas made his third All-Star Game and finished the year with a .516 slugging percentage and hit 35 home runs, he’s made 12 trips to the injured list. But a veteran with power attempting a comeback after a few rough seasons can do a lot worse than Coors Field, making his brand-new contract with the Rockies all the more interesting.

Ronald Guzmán, 1B/RHP, Giants
Last season, the aforementioned Andújar, Guzmán’s teammate with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate, took to calling him “Guzmáni.” Surprise – this career first baseman now also has a 96 mph fastball. His skills as a pitcher are still pretty raw, having returned to the mound in 2022 after becoming a full-time position player as a kid, so it’s hard to know what to expect out of him in this new dual role, and we’ve also yet to see a two-way player catch on in the Majors as a reliever. But it certainly makes him someone to watch in the coming weeks, especially considering the often chaotic state of the Giants bullpen and infield.