Joe Nathan is set to play catch this weekend. Only the Twins know where and when and while that may be fine and dandy there’s a good chance the final roster spots are results of Nathan’s throwing this weekend.
Anthony Slama and Kyle Waldrop have different paths to the majors but one of them likely makes the Twins roster this spring. If Nathan is unable to go both could have been on the Twins roster by the end of April.
I had a tough time here but ultimately choose Slama since Ron Gardenhire was recently impressed with him striking out the side and something about late draft picks really makes you feel the magic of the whole non roster invitee experience.
Slama pitched the last three years in the Twins organization and last season appeared at Double-A and Triple-A compiling a 2.67 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP. He’s got a powerful live arm and yet has been able to keep the walks at a minimum.
He’s been groomed for the late innings and while I know these numbers are fluky I’ll throw them out there. In 140 minor league games he has 68 saves.
Jon Rauch gets the closers role should Nathan be out fort he year but Slama as much as anyone on the roster could be featured in the seventh or eighth inning leading up to that point.
| Non-Roster Invitees | |||||||
| Pitchers | B/T | Ht | Wt | DOB | |||
| 74 Jose Lugo | L/L | 6-1 | 180 | 04/10/84 | |||
| 58 Mike Maroth | L/L | 6-0 | 190 | 08/17/77 | |||
| 39 Anthony Slama | R/R | 6-3 | 205 | 01/06/84 | |||
| 57 Kyle Waldrop | R/R | 6-4 | 205 | 10/27/85 | |||
| Catchers | B/T | Ht | Wt | DOB | |||
| 80 Jair Fernandez | R/R | 6-1 | 170 | 12/10/86 | |||
| 81 Danny Lehmann | R/R | 5-11 | 185 | 09/05/85 | |||
| 79 Daniel Rams | R/R | 6-2 | 230 | 12/19/88 | |||
| Infielders | B/T | Ht | Wt | DOB | |||
| 85 Brian Dinkelman | L/R | 5-11 | 195 | 11/10/83 | |||
| 88 Toby Gardenhire | S/R | 6-0 | 190 | 09/11/82 | |||
| 83 Chris Parmelee | L/L | 6-1 | 220 | 02/24/88 | |||
| 72 Brock Peterson | R/R | 6-3 | 215 | 11/20/83 | |||
| 84 Steve Singleton | L/R | 6-0 | 185 | 09/12/85 | |||
| Outfielders | B/T | Ht | Wt | DOB | |||
| 11 Jacque Jones | L/L | 5-10 | 205 | 04/25/75 | |||
| 86 Juan Portes | R/R | 5-11 | 200 | 11/26/85 | |||
| 87 Ben Revere | L/R | 5-9 | 175 | 05/03/88 | |||
| 61 Rene Tosoni | L/R | 6-0 | 195 | 07/02/86 | |||
