Blue Jays invite 23 non-roster players to big league spring training

Nine non-roster players were invited to the Blue Jays' major league spring training camp: pitchers Miguel Castro, Roberto Osuna, and Gregory Infante, infielder Mitch Nay, outfielders Anthony Alford, Dwight Smith Jr., and catchers Derrick Chung, Jack Murphy, and Sean Ochinko. They join the 14 minor leaguers who already had invitations earlier this offseason.

Anthony Alford, Mitch Nay, Dwight Smith Jr., Miguel Castro, Scott Copeland, and Robert Osuna get their first career invites. Alex Anthopoulos is very encouraged by Miguel Castro, telling Bob McCown on Prime Time Sports Wednesday evening that the right-handed pitcher Castro "has a chance to make the team" out of spring training in a relief role (although he quickly added that he doesn't expect it to happen).

Of particular note is that Ricky Romero is not among the list of non-roster invitees (NRIs). His old number 24 has even been recycled for invitee Jake Fox. Sort of intriguing!

Other uniform number notes:

• As of the time of posting, two players were assigned #15 according to BlueJays.com: Danny Valencia (who wore it last year) and Chris Colabello. Fight! Fight! Fight!
• Devon Travis has been assigned #9, which was worn by Cole Gillespie for his single game as a Blue Jay, and late-season addition John Mayberry Jr.
• Maicer Izturis switches his #3 for Brett Lawrie's old #13, a number Izturis wore during his final years with the Angels. NRI outfielder Ezequiel Carrera gets #3.
• We knew about this already, but Marcus Stroman will be wearing his new #6 to spring training. His old #54 goes to NRI reliever Scott Copeland. A.J. Jimenez switches from the #6 he had held since being added to the 40-man roster to #8, last worn by Anthony Gose last year.
• Liam Hendriks, who wore #39 in his first tour in Toronto, will be wearing #31 this year, the number worn by his trademate Erik Kratz and Kendall Graveman in 2014.
• Brandon Morrow's old #23 and Dustin McGowan's old #29 have yet to be re-assigned. Does that give some hope the Blue Jays will sign McGowan to a minor league deal?
• New bullpen coach Dane Johnson will wear #38 (Brad Mills in 2014), the number he wore with the White Sox in his major league debut back in 1994. Brook Jacoby takes over the #26 (Adam Lind in 2014) he wore for the vast majority of his career.

Sortable Spring Training Uniform Numbers

There just might be a future Sporcle quiz on uniform numbers, so study up!