Royals Invite 16 to Major League Camp

Royals announced that they would be inviting 16 Minor Leaguers to Major League camp this Spring. That number is down from 25 a year ago. Here are the names of the chosen few:

Pitchers

Francisely Bueno

Chris Dwyer

Tommy Hottovy

Zach Miner

Mike Montgomery

Jake Odorizzi

Will Smith

Catchers

Cody Clark

Max Ramirez

Julio Rodriguez

Infielders

Tony Abreu

Irving Falu

Kevin Kouzmanoff

Outfielders

Greg Golson

Wil Myers

Paulo Orlando

A couple of notes I'll make. First, having Max Ramirez and Greg Golson in camp on a minor league deals brings in good depth. Both probably even have outside shots at making the team if they turn enough heads in Spring (by turn heads, I actually mean breaking necks, because they will need to dominate). 

Kevin Kouzmanoff is my prediction for most likely of the non roster invitees to make the team. If the Royals elect to go with a 13 pitchers, this won't happen. But if the Royals wise up and only keep a 12 man staff that opens up an extra spot on the Royals bench. If that is the case, Kouzmanoff would likely have to beat out the loser of the Mitch Maier/Jarrod Dyson fourth outfielder battle.

Of course the most exciting of these names will be the big prospects: Montgomery, Dwyer, Odorizzi, and Myers. With strong camps they could really position themselves for big league time in Kansas City this summer. In particular I'm talking about Montgomery and Odorizzi whom are the closest of the bunch to the Majors.