Angels spring training roster: Get to know the 26 non-roster invitees

Pitchers and catchers report to camp a week from today, and the Angels have unveiled their list of non-roster invitees! It is quite the fun collection of veterans and top prospects, and Angels spring training games should be quite exciting this year.

Before we get into the invitees, here are some prospects who are notably absent from big league camp: Barrett Kent, Dylan Jordan, Joswa Lugo, Trey Gregory-Alford, Mason Erla, Ryan Costeiu, Luke Murphy, Brett Kerry, Eric Torres, Walbert Ureña, Randy De Jesus, Adrian Placencia, Werner Blakely, David Calabrese, Nick Jones, Kenyon Yovan, Riley Bauman.

Pitchers (12)

RHPs
1. Connor Brogdon
2. Chris Cortez
3. Michael Darrell-Hicks
4. Ángel Felipe
5. José Fermin
6. Austin Gordon
7. Dakota Hudson
8. Ryan Johnson
9. George Klassen
10. Camden Minacci

LHPs
1. Victor González
2. Samy Natera Jr.

George Klassen is by far the headliner of this group. The chances of him earning a big league bullpen job out of camp are near-zero...but still are non-zero. The chances of him making his big league debut at some point in 2025 are much higher given the way the Angels push their best prospects. Klassen will be deployed as a reliever during spring training, given the nature of how the games operate, but it will be interesting nonetheless to see how he pitches in that role. If he gets his chance with the 2025 Angels it will be as a reliever, and perhaps down the road he could be the closer. The more likely scenario is Klassen stretches out as a starter with AA Rocket City, along with Caden Dana.

Brogdon, González, and Hudson are the three veteran minor league signings the Angels made. In lieu of making a single big league bullpen addition to this point, Perry Minasian signed those three! They are all intriguing pitchers in their own right -- Hudson is a sinker-baller who should get stretched out at AAA Salt Lake to start the year, Brogdon has solid K and BB rates as well as a 146:53 K:BB for his career, while González has a career 3.36 ERA.

Here is how Keith Law of The Athletic, MLB.com, and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN rank, in order, these two pitching prospects in the Angels pipeline: Chris Cortez -- 12, 10, 7; Ryan Johnson -- 6, 5, 10. McDaniel is higher on Cortez than Johnson (Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs is as well), but Law and MLB.com view Johnson as the superior prospect. Both are undoubtedly future relievers, given that their fastballs reach 100mph, Johnson has a Jimmy Herget-esque delivery and arsenal, and Cortez solely has a two-pitch arsenal. Camden Minacci is hanging in there with Johnson and Cortez, but is trending downwards in prospect rankings due to an underwhelming pitch mix and command. Perhaps Minacci can close the gap in camp.

The forgotten men in this group are Samy Natera Jr. and Michael Darrell-Hicks. After an outstanding performance in the Arizona Fall League, Natera Jr. received an invitation to big league camp. The lefty was 95-97 mph in the AFL, and earned a spot on the All Star team. Both Law and MLB.com have him unranked amongst Angels prospects, but McDaniel has him 8th and Longenhagen has him 6th. Darrell-Hicks is an after-thought amongst Angels prospects. Why? Who knows. He pounds the strike zone, generates a ton of ground balls, can get his sinker into the upper-90s, and slings his cutter and slider to great effect. Natera Jr. and Darrell-Hicks are not the most exciting amongst the non-roster invitees, but they could easily make their pro debuts in 2025.

Lastly, we get to Ángel Felipe, José Fermin, and Austin Gordon. Felipe made 14 appearances with the A's in 2023, and posted some incredible metrics and solid results. He missed all of 2024 after Tommy John surgery. Felipe (27-years-old) and Fermin (23-years-old) are two guys with giant arms, but have little to no idea where the ball is going. Gordon was the Angels' most recent 4th round pick, and he will join Christian Moore, Cortez, Johnson, and David Mershon as the 2024 draftees joining big league camp. He beat out fellow 2024 pitcher draftees Dylan Jordan and Trey Gregory-Alford who have some more shine in rankings.