Royals Invite 29 Players to Major League Spring Training

KANSAS CITY, MO (February 5, 2021) – The Kansas City Royals announced today that the club has invited 29 non-roster players to Major League Spring Training in Surprise, Ariz.  Among the invitations are 14 pitchers, three catchers, eight infielders and four outfielders.

Included in the 29 invitees are 25 players that were in the Royals’ organization last season.  Among that group, the following were originally drafted by the Royals: pitchers Jonathan Bowlan (second round, 2018), Austin Cox (fifth round, 2018), Jon Heasley (13th round, 2018), Jake Kalish (32nd round, 2015), Jackson Kowar (first round, 2018), Asa Lacy (first round, 2020), Daniel Lynch (first round, 2018), Alec Marsh (second round, 2019) and Eric Skoglund (third round, 2014); catchers Nick Dini (14th round, 2015) and MJ Melendez (second round, 2017); infielders Gabriel Cancel (seventh round, 2015), Clay Dungan (ninth round, 2019), Nick Pratto (first round, 2017), Emmanuel Rivera (19th round, 2015) and Bobby Witt Jr. (first round, 2019) as well as outfielders Kyle Isbel (third round, 2018), Anderson Miller (third round, 2015) and Bubba Starling (first round, 2011). Catcher Freddy Fermin (2015), infielder Jeison Guzmán (2015) and outfielder Seuly Matias (2015) signed as international free agents. Pitchers Jake Brentz and Gabe Speier, and infielder/outfielder Erick Mejia were in the organization last season, while pitchers Wade Davis, Carlos SanabriaErvin Santana and infielder Hanser Alberto are all new to the organization this year, though Davis and Santana both previously pitched for the Royals.

Pitchers and catchers are scheduled to hold their first workout of the season on Wednesday, February 17, while the first full-squad workout will be on Monday, February 22.

The Royals’ current 67-man spring training roster is listed on the attached document.