Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
With just a few weeks until the Dodgers report to Camelback Ranch for 2023 Spring Training, the organization announced 27 non-roster invitees for a total of 67 players in the big-league camp. Last year, the Dodgers brought 22 invites to camp, with Ryan Pepiot, Robbie Erlin, Yency Almonte, Tony Wolters, Eddy Alvarez and Miguel Vargas all eventually reaching the majors with varying contribution levels.
Anyway, onto the list.
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Pitchers
- Matt Andriese
- Dylan Covey
- Tyler Cyr
- Robbie Erlin
- Bryan Hudson
- James Jones
- Landon Knack
- Adam Kolarek
- Bobby Miller
- Nick Nastrini
- Jake Reed
- Nick Robertson
- Tayler Scott
- Gavin Stone
- Wander Suero
- Jordan Yamamoto
A few of these guys have been covered in previous posts here, so let’s look closer at a few of the new additions. First, the group of major league veterans that includes Andriese, Covey, Suero and Yamamoto.
Andriese spent 2022 with the Yomiuri Giants after last pitching for Boston and Seattle in 2021. Throwing 44 1/3 innings in the Eastern League, Andriese struck out 38 to 10 walks with a 2.03 ERA. Moving up to the Central League, the ERA went up to 4.82 in 18 2/3 innings with 18 strikeouts and 4 walks. Covey was in Taiwan with the Rakuten Monkeys the past two seasons, throwing 140 innings with a 4.11 ERA and 100 strikeouts to 50 walks. He last pitched in the majors for Boston in 2020.
Suero spent all of 2022 in Triple-A for the Angels, with a 6.08 ERA in 23 2/3 innings having last pitched in the majors for the Nationals in 2021, where he had a 6.33 ERA in 42 2/3 innings with 44 strikeouts to 15 walks. He did have a 4.10 ERA and 3.20 FIP in 142.2 innings with Washington from 2018-20. Yamamoto also spent all of 2022 in the minors, doing so for the Mets after throwing 6 2/3 innings in the majors for New York in 2021. After some early rotation success in his career, injuries hampered him for a couple seasons. Yamamoto always found a way to miss bats without great velocity, so a full-time relief role could be interesting.
As for the prospects, Knack, Miller, Nastrini and Stone are all well-known prospects within the organization. Miller is a Top 30 prospect in baseball now, Stone is among the Top 60 and Nastrini is on a pretty rapid rise following his 42 strikeouts in 30 1/3 innings at Double-A. Knack struggled a bit with injuries in 2022, but was among the Top 10 within the organization, according to Dustin and Josh before last season.
Robertson was covered pretty well by Dustin back in November, Chad wrote about Cyr and Scott and also covered Jones, Kolarek and Reed.
It might just be me, but Bryan Hudson is a little interesting. The 6-foot-8 lefty has yet to reach the majors after being a 3rd round pick by the Cubs in 2015. Throwing 46 innings in Triple-A, Hudson finished with a 4.11 ERA, but a 3.75 FIP and a 28.4 K%. In 13 innings at Double-A, he finished with a 2.08 ERA with a 2.97 FIP and a 34.6 K%. Those strikeout percentages were the highest of his career at any level. He missed the end of 2018 and most of 2019 with a back injury, but some reports said his velocity had been up around 95 from the low 90s/high 80s earlier in his career, and he compliments it with a curve.
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Catchers
Feduccia slashed .238/.331/.466/.797 between Triple-A and Double-A in 2022, and was a 12th round pick by the Dodgers in 2018.
Freitas was covered here, and Mazeika here.
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Infielders
Slashing .264/.380/.464/.844 between Triple-A and Double-A while primarily playing second base, Mann was a 5th round pick in 2018 by the Dodgers.
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Outfielders
Heyward, Duggar and Zimmer were all written about here, while Williams is covered here.
Avans and Ward have been around awhile, with the former a 33rd round pick in 2018 and the latter an 8th round pick in 2019. Avans slashed .282/.379/.426/.805 in Triple-A while playing center field, and Ward slashed .255/.319/.486/.805 in Double-A as Tulsa’s left fielder.
Diaz makes his return to the Dodgers organization after having been sent to Baltimore in the Manny Machado deal at the 2018 deadline. Ranked as a Top 100 prospect before the 2019 season, Diaz managed to get just one plate appearance for the Orioles, a strikeout this past season. He’s still just 26 years old but did finish last season with a .707 OPS in Triple-A.
| Name | Position | Age | Options? |
| Matt Andriese | RHP | 33 | No |
| Dylan Covey | RHP | 31 | No |
| Tyler Cyr | RHP | 30 | Yes |
| Landon Knack | RHP | 25 | Yes |
| Bobby Miller | RHP | 24 | Yes |
| Nick Nastrini | RHP | 23 | Yes |
| Jake Reed | RHP | 25 | Yes |
| Nick Robertson | RHP | 24 | Yes |
| Tayler Scott | RHP | 31 | Yes |
| Gavin Stone | RHP | 24 | Yes |
| Wander Suero | RHP | 31 | Yes |
| Jordan Yamamoto | RHP | 27 | Yes |
| Robbie Erlin | LHP | 32 | No |
| Bryan Hudson | LHP | 26 | Yes |
| James Jones | LHP | 34 | Yes |
| Adam Kolarek | LHP | 34 | No |
| Hunter Feduccia | C | 26 | Yes |
| David Freitas | C | 34 | No |
| Patrick Mazeika | C | 29 | No |
| Devin Mann | INF | 26 | Yes |
| Drew Avans | OF | 27 | Yes |
| Yusniel Diaz | OF | 26 | Yes |
| Steven Duggar | OF | 29 | No |
| Jason Heyward | OF | 33 | No |
| Ryan Ward | OF | 25 | Yes |
| Luke Williams | OF | 26 | Yes |
| Bradley Zimmer | OF | 30 | No |
With six of 22 invitees reaching the majors in 2022, at least a few players on the list are likely to reach the majors in 2023. The nine infielders on the 40-man roster (plus Chris Taylor and Mookie Betts?) make it seem like Mann would be a long shot, but the outfield is likely to need someone, with Heyward, Duggar and Zimmer possibly competing for a spot.
As for the pitching, it seems likely at least one or two of the prospects will debut at some point in 2023, and the host of guys who reached the majors in the past are likely to break through if guys like Erlin (2 innings), Shane Greene (2), Reed (4 2/3) and Heath Hembree (5 2/3) all pitched for the Dodgers in 2022.
