DOWNTOWN • The St. Louis Cardinals delayed announcing their non-roster invites to major-league spring training until finalizing a few of their free-agent interests first.
So it fell to a few of the players themselves to announce their invites at media chats Saturday morning or, in at least one case, on Twitter.
The list is now official.
Farm director John Vuch confirmed 19 non-roster invites to major-league spring training.
Shortstop prospect Ryan Jackson and pitcher Jordan Swagerty confirmed that they have been invited to join major-league camp this coming spring. Shelby Miller will also be an NRI at major-league spring training for the third consecutive year. Oscar Taveras, an outfielder and the Cardinals' top position-player prospect, had also been discussed as a possible NRI, but isn't on the list. First-round pick Kolten Wong is.
The complete list:
PITCHERS
Shelby Miller
John Gast
Joe Kelly
Trevor Rosenthal
Jordan Swagerty
Victor Marte
Nick Greenwood
R. J. Swindle
Kevin Siegrist
Tyrell Jenkins
CATCHERS
Steven Hill
Robert Stock
Luis de la Cruz
Cody Stanley
Koyie Hill
INFIELDERS/OUTFIELDERS
Matt Adams
Kolten Wong
Ryan Jackson
Eugenio Velez
Zack Cox will make his second appearance at major-league camp this spring. He is on the 40-man roster and thus guaranteed a spot in spring training.
Jackson appeared in one Grapefruit League game last spring, making a few slick plays in the field against the New York Mets at Port St. Lucie, Fla. He spoke Saturday morning about already getting a chance to talk with new manager Mike Matheny, who also saw the infielder out of Miami play in Quad Cities during his first pro turn.
Prospects were the first Cardinals to meet with the media Saturday morning at the 16th annual Winter Warm-up.
And that can only mean ...
Yes, it's the return of ShakyCam.
Here are a videos from some media sessions with prospects, all from the WriteFielder channel at YouTube that we set up a few years ago for this very purpose:
JORDAN SWAGERTY, RHP (this one is especially shaky, not sure what happened; maybe just listen to the audio)
I'm told, as always, that the audio is low, so crank the volume. And I apologize for the shakiness. I blame genes.
Check back throughout the day for more uploads and additional news from WWU XVI.
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