Earlier today, we heard who the Tigers' 13 non-roster invitees to Lakeland next month will be. But in case you don't know who everyone is -- I know I didn't -- here's a quick primer of the nuts and bolts.
Pitchers:
Phil Dumatrait, Enrique Gonzalez, Josh Rainwater, Cody Satterwhite, Robbie Weinhardt
Dumatrait (stats) -- A 28-year-old who most recently a lefty reliever who came to the Tigers after spending time with the Pirates' organization, he had a 6.92 ERA and 1.85 WHIP in 16 MLB games last season.
Gonzalez (stats) -- A 27-year-old righty starter in the minors, reliever for the Red Sox for two games in 2009. He's had middling numbers in both the minors and majors and is not auditioning for his fourth team in four seasons. He's made it to the MLB for all of them.
Rainwater (stats) --A 25-year-old (to be) right hander, who like Satterwhite and Weinhardt, Rainwater, has spent his pro career in the Tigers' organization. He was quite effective as a reliever in Double-A Erie, less so in Triple-A Toledo, yet his strikeouts and walks per nine innings were only a hair worse.
Satterwhite (stats) -- A 23-year-old right hander with decent strikeout rate in Erie (about one per inning), but he has to work on his control a bit (4.9 walks per nine innings).
Weinhardt (stats) -- A 23-year old right hander, Weinhardt was pretty impressive with more than a strikeout per inning at stops in both Advanced-A and Double-A. He walked a few too many at Erie, though. In the Arizona Fall League, he improved to a 4.14 strikeout per walk rate, including 29 K's in 18 1/3 innings.
Infielders:
Kory Casto, Jeff Larish, Gustavo Nunez
Casto (stats) -- Most important thing you need to know about the 28-year-old right-handed batter? He plays third base. With Brandon Inge not expected to man the corner until near the end of spring training, someone's got to play over there. He had a .215 average, .296 on-base %, .313 slugging average line in 163 at bats with the Nationals in 2008.
Larish (stats) -- Larish you are already familiar with. The 27-year-old, left-handed batter was recently dropped from the 40-man roster to make room for Jose Valverde. He of course has a fair amount of power potential, but hasn't yet made the best of his MLB opportunities. He has a .727 OPS with 178 major league at bats. He can play third a bit but is better suited for first or DH.
Nunez (stats) --Nunez is one of the Tigers' shortstop prospects of interest, along with Audy Ciriaco, who is already on the 40-man roster. A 22-year-old to be, Nunez put up a .785 OPS in Low-A West Michigan last season. He's better known for his defensive prowess, however, as Baseball America named him the Tigers' best defensive infielder.
Catchers:
Robinzon Diaz, John Murrian, Mike Rabelo, Eric Roof, Max St. Pierre
I'm going to run through these pretty quick, as most of them are in camp simply to catch all the pitchers.
Diaz (stats) -- If Alex Avila needs to spend more time in Toledo honing his catching skills, Diaz will almost certainly be the Tigers' backup to start the season. He also spells his first name with a 'z' to confuse matters. He has 139 major-league at bats and a .659 OPS. He was a Pirate last year.
Murrian (stats) -- A 2009 draftee by the Tigers, he caught for Oneonta last season.
Rabelo (stats) -- Tigers backup in 2007, traded to the Marlins. Returned as a free agent.
Roof (stats) -- A Michigan State Spartan who spent last season in Oneonta after being drafted by the Tigers.
St. Pierre (stats) -- Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. He's been in the Tigers' organzation since being drafted in 1997, but has never made it past Toledo. Eddie Bajek tweeted that this will be his seventh invitation to MLB camp.