Top prospects highlight Royals' list of 23 NRIs

KANSAS CITY -- The Royals announced Friday that they invited 23 non-roster players to Major League Spring Training, and the list is peppered with top prospects.

As MLB.com reported on Friday morning, top prospect Jac Caglianone, ranked No. 17 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 list, will be in big league camp ahead of his first full professional season after he was selected sixth overall in the 2024 MLB Draft.

Drafted as a two-way player out of Florida, Caglianone will only focus on hitting in 2025 because that’s his fastest track to the big leagues. While he won’t break camp with Kansas City, no one is ruling out a quick ascension if he continues to develop the way the Royals hope. The position-player focus will also allow him to spend more time working on his defense at first base.

Five of the Royals’ top six prospects will be in big league camp, including Caglianone (No. 1), catchers Blake Mitchell (No. 2) and Carter Jensen (No. 5), right-hander Ben Kudrna (No. 3) and outfielder Gavin Cross (No. 6). This will be the first big league Spring Training for Caglianone, Mitchell, Kudrna and Cross; Jensen impressed in camp last year and went on to post a .809 OPS with 18 homers in High-A Quad Cities and Double-A Northwest Arkansas last season.

The Royals list 63 players on their ST roster, with a full 40-man roster in addition to the 23 non-roster invitees. Pitchers and catchers have the first workout in Surprise, Ariz., on Feb. 12. The position players will join them on Feb. 17, and Kansas City's first Cactus League game is Feb. 21 against the Rangers at Surprise Stadium.

Of the 23 players invited, nine are ranked in MLB Pipeline’s Royals Top 30 list. The club will also have pitching prospects Noah Cameron (No. 12), Luinder Avila (No. 26) and Eric Cerantola (No. 29) in camp, who were added to the 40-man roster in November.

Recent Minor League signings Austin Cox, Junior Fernandez, Cavan Biggio and Taylor Clarke received invites to Spring Training within their contracts.

Here is the full non-roster list, with their club prospect rankings in parentheses:

Pitchers: Chandler Champlain (No. 16), Taylor Clarke, Austin Cox, Junior Fernandez, Tyson Guerrero (No. 27), Andrew Hoffmann, Ben Kudrna (No. 3), Anthony Simonelli, Beck Way, Steven Zobac (No. 17)

Catchers: Kyle Hayes, Omar Hernandez, Carter Jensen (No. 5), Blake Mitchell (No. 2), Brian O’Keefe, Luca Tresh

Infielders: Cavan Biggio, Jac Caglianone (No. 1), Cam Devanney, Tyler Tolbert, Javier Vaz (No. 13)

Outfielders: Gavin Cross (No. 6), John Rave