RECENT ATLANTIC LEAGUER AMONG SPRING TRAINING INVITEES, BUT 50 STILL IN FREE AGENCY

Eleven of the 30 major league teams have yet to announce their full list of non-roster invitees to spring training camps starting next month and there will be some late signees, still our records already show 48 players who have spent time in Independent leagues will be among the elite players afforded such opportunities.

One impressive name on the list is that of 28-year-old Brian Broderick, who only signed with Kansas City recently after making 60 relief appearances at Sugar Land, TX in the Atlantic League last season (0-2, 11 saves, 2.31 with 65 strikeouts and only nine walks in 62.1 innings).

Broderick has been pitching professionally since ’07 (St. Louis, Washington), but the tall right-hander has only 12.1 major league innings (Nationals, 2011).

Right-hander Dane DeLaRosa (Southern Maryland, Atlantic, El Paso, TX, American Association and four Golden League teams no longer in existence) signed as a free agent with Baltimore this week, and received a camp invitation. San Diego added lefty Jason Lane (Sugar Land and Southern Maryland) and first baseman Matt Fields (Southern Illinois, Frontier League) got an invite from the Royals.

Catcher Eddy Rodriguez (El Paso and Sioux Falls, SD, American Association) signed with the New York Yankees. It would not surprise if he gets a camp invitation although the Bombers have not announced their additions to the established 40-man roster.

STILL AVAILABLE

It might be starting to become nervous time for another group of onetime Independent players who were in major league organizations when last season ended and are without jobs in affiliated or Indy leagues.

While we may have overlooked a late signing or two and a few players likely will retire, the list maintained by the Independent Baseball Insider column still shows exactly 50 such players. They are:

RHP (23) – Eric Brooks, Robert Coello, Michael Colla, Shane Dyer, Jarrett Grube, Erik Hamren, Ray Hanson, Tyler Herron, Shawn Hill, Josh Kinney, Anthony Lerew, Mike McClendon, Kyler Newby, Michael Nix, Mark Pope, Scott Richmond, Jake Roberts, Cody Scarpatta, Mark Serrano, Daniel Stange, Brett Tomko, Virgil Vasquez, Zak Wasserman.

LHP (7) – Brian Burres, Tony Davis, Zach Kroenke, Nate Reed, Will Startup, Joe Thatcher, Raul Valdes.

C (7) – (Also OF) Alex Burg, Mitch Canham, Jose Gil, Ralph Henriquez, J.R. Towles, J.T. Wise, Zach Zaneski.

IF (6) – (SS) Vance Albitz, (3B) Mike Costanzo, Maikol Gonzalez, (1B) Cody Overbeck, (SS) Jaime Pedroza, Nate Spears.

OF (7) – Cory Aldridge, Brandon Boggs, Yusuf Carter, Justin Christian, Tyler Graham, Dustin Martin, Dustin Richardson.

THE INDEPENDENT BASEBALL INSIDER will resume in March. Request a free sample column from December in order to be automatically reminded when the column starts for 2015.

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