Tuesday, December 20, 2011

MAJOR LEAGUE SPRING TRAINING INVITATIONS GIVEN TO SEVEN ATLANTIC LEAGUERS

The holidays arrived early for at least seven players who previously were in the Atlantic League.

Their gift is an invitation to a major league spring training camp. The seven we know of so far with their Atlantic League affiliation:

Cleveland--C Michel Hernandez (Somerset).
Los Angeles Dodgers--LHP Alberto Castillo (Newark, Road Warriors, Camden) and RHP Will Savage (Lancaster).
Milwaukee--UTIL Erick Almonte (Long Island), who made last year's opening day roster, and C Mike Rivera (Atlantic City).
Seattle--RHP Jarrett Grube (Southern Maryland) and RHP Scott Patterson (Lancaster).

Honors are passed around with eight different Atlantic League franchises involved, including three that are no longer in the league (Atlantic City, Newark, Road Warriors).

More invitations seem certain between now and mid-February.

Savage and Grube are trying to reach the major leagues for the first time.

Four other former Atlantic Leaguers have automatic major league invitations in that they are on 40-man rosters. The fortunate foursome: OF Justin Christian (Southern Maryland) with San Francisco, RHP Dane De La Rosa (Southern Maryland) with Tampa Bay, SS Stephen Drew (Camden) with Arizona and RHP Jerome Williams (Lancaster) with the Los Angeles Angels.

RENE RIVERA BACK WITH TWINS

Catcher Rene Rivera (Camden) has re-signed with Minnesota after being a free agent. Rivera got considerable time with the parent Twins in 2011, but the solid defender only hit .144, and he likely will face a more difficult challenge to return to the American League with Minnesota bringing in a stronger hitter in veteran Ryan Doumit to back up Joe Mauer. The Twins also still have another defensive minded backstop on the 40-man roster in Drew Butera.

We presume Rivera will be invited to the major league training camp.



Subscription to the Insider only $48 from now through December, 2012.

REQUEST A FREE SAMPLE COPY OF THE INDEPENDENT BASEBALL INSIDER

No comments:

Post a Comment