Every year, all 30 major league teams end up signing a whole pitching staff worth of minor league deals with invites to spring camp. Along with pitching prospects already in a given farm system, there may be as many as 15 additional pitchers not on the 40-man roster.The need for pitching depth in camp and in the season, and the hope of developing a useful reliever or depth starter, makes it a mandatory part of spring training. The non-roster invites to position players are typically more scarce, and depend to a greater degree on how many actual prospects a club has in their system.<\/p>\n
In the case of the 2026 Detroit Tigers, those non-roster position players are largely drawn from one of the top farm systems in baseball. The Tigers will have two of the top ten prospects in the game in camp in the form of Kevin McGonigle and Max Clark, while catcher Josue Brice\u00f1o gives them a third prospect on national top 100 lists in camp. Of the eight position players invited to camp but not yet on the 40-man roster, only three of them are from outside the Tigers system.<\/p>\n
Not everyone on the 40-man roster will be familiar to Tigers fans either. The club added several of them to the 40-man roster back in November to protect them from the Rule 5 draft, but infield prospect Hao-Yu Lee, C\/1B Eduardo Valencia, utilityman Trei Cruz, and catching prospect Thayron Liranzo, have yet to play in the major leagues either. Lee, Liranzo, and Valencia are all upcoming in our preseason prospect reports, and have been covered pretty extensively here. So we\u2019ll write up Cruz here briefly, but otherwise we\u2019ll stick to the non-roster invitees.<\/p>\n
With pitcher and catchers, and most of the position players, already in camp, and the first full squad workout coming up this weekend, let\u2019s run through the non-roster invite position players briefly.<\/p>\n
This 21-year-old is the best hitting prospect the Detroit Tigers have ever had, at least going back to the 70\u2019s before prospect coverage was really a thing. Ranked the second best prospect in baseball by most major publications, McGonigle combines a great eye with outstanding barrel to ball skills and enough discipline to hunt the right pitches and do damage. His short levers and well-built physique are primed to make tons of hard contact, and McGonigle already shows the ability to pull a lot of different pitch types in different zones in the air to right field. He\u2019s primed to take full advantage of his above average power, and while he just reached Double-A in the second half of 2025, it\u2019s debatable whether he needs any Triple-A time at all. The Tigers have no reason to rush him before he\u2019s ready, and it will probably take an extremely impressive camp to win a job out of spring training, but McGonigle will be up this season, and it may not take too long.<\/p>\n
The one big question around him will draw heavy scrutiny in camp. McGonigle can handle shortstop, but his range and arm strength are less than ideal for the position. To play average shortstop in the major leagues, he\u2019s going to have to squeeze everything possible out of his natural ability, and that has been his main focus this offseason. When a better shortstop option presents himself to the Tigers down the road, McGonigle will likely move to second base, where he should be very good. Until then, it really is his job to win, if not right out of camp, then at some point during the regular season.<\/p>\n
The Tigers first round pick back in 2023 isn\u2019t far behind McGonigle. The 21-year-old Clark is widely regarded as the best outfield prospect in baseball, and he too will almost certainly debut in 2026. While he doesn\u2019t have McGonigle\u2019s power, Clark is also a very good pure hitter with a good eye and approach, and excellent bat to ball skills. He spent much of 2024 slapping line drives the opposite way and looking more like an old school leadoff hitter than the modern edition. However, in 2025 he tapped into more pull power and now looks like a more credible threat to hit 20 homers per year and steal at least that many bags.<\/p>\n
Clark is a plus runner, but he isn\u2019t quite as gifted in center field as Parker Meadows. Still, Clark\u2019s reads and routes continued to improve in his second full pro season, and most evaluators think he\u2019ll be an above average to plus center field defender who also has the arm to slide over to play right field well. His timetable isn\u2019t quite as advanced as McGonigle\u2019s, but how quickly he arrives may also have something to do with whether Parker Meadows hits enough to play everyday in center field.<\/p>\n
The dynamic duo is the best 1-2 punch of any farm system in baseball, and the Tigers have been careful to bring the two friends up in lockstep. Most likely they\u2019ll start the season together, perhaps seeing Double-A again briefly before moving to Triple-A Toledo to prepare for their final arrival in Detroit sometime this season. The pair will be a featured attraction in spring camp.<\/p>\n
23-year-old Max Anderson isn\u2019t the same caliber of prospect as McGonigle and Clark, but he had a nice 2025 season and reached the Triple-A level last summer, so it\u2019s feasible he could be the first one of the prospects to graduate to the Show this season. Anderson has good bat to ball skills and above average raw power, but his free swinging tendencies are going to get him in trouble at the next level. He still needs to get a lot more selective or major league pitchers are going to have their way with him. If he can manage that and wait for more pitches he can do damage against, the Tigers are going to have another interesting young infielder to work with.<\/p>\n
His defensive profile is fairly limited to second and third base, with a strong arm but poor range, and that lack of footspeed makes him a mediocre baserunner as well. All of that puts added pressure on him to contribute in the power department, and he\u2019ll have to show continued development in that regard to break through to the next level. Still, some national sites did have Anderson just outside of their top 100 based on his low strikeout rates and power potential. He\u2019ll be another one to watch in camp.<\/p>\n
Teams always need extra catchers in spring camp to deal with the huge volume of different pitchers trying to get ready, but in Josue Brice\u00f1o\u2019s case, his bat has earned him a ticket already. The same age as McGonigle, the well-built 6\u20194\u201d catcher packs a lot of power and has shown very good discipline and contact ability since breaking out as the Arizona Fall League MVP right after his 20th birthday back in 2024. Like his teammates, McGonigle and Clark, Brice\u00f1o torched High-A last year, though he had a little harder time adapting to Double-A pitching. Of course, he also had a lot heavier workload as a catcher learning to handle upper level pitchers.<\/p>\n
Brice\u00f1o has the arm to stick as a catcher, but his framing and blocking are still somewhat inconsistent and he profiles more as a second catcher who plays first base as well. This is a potential 30 HR hitter who walks, uses the whole field with plus power, and doesn\u2019t chase out of the zone too much. His proximity to the major leagues probably has more to do with how long the Tigers decide to keep developing him behind the plate. He\u2019s less certain to make his major league debut this season, but if he\u2019s tearing it up at the Triple-A level this summer and Spencer Torkelson is injured or struggling, that pace to the major leagues may accelerate. If there\u2019s no need for that, the Tigers may continue working with him as a catcher for another year before deciding on his future role.<\/p>\n
This 31-year-old, right-handed hitting veteran has over 300 games at the major league level under his belt, but has never hit well enough to stick for long as a second catcher. He spent most of the 2025 season leading the pitching staff for the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens. A good defensive catcher who is lauded by Hens manager Gabe Alvarez for his preparation and game planning, Nido is a solid third catching option should Dillon Dingler or Jake Rogers go down with an injury, and he\u2019ll also be instrumental in helping to coach up younger catchers like Eduardo Valencia, and eventually Brice\u00f1o and Thayron Liranzo.<\/p>\n
27-year-old Trei Cruz is a pretty interesting case. Grandson of former MLB All-Star Jose Cruz, the utilityman was pretty slow to develop before making a big jump in 2025 and convincing the Tigers to add him to the 40-man roster. A switch-hitter, Cruz can handle himself in center field and at shortstop, and does a lot of things well without really having a standout tool that could make him an everyday player.<\/p>\n
Cruz has a very disciplined approach at the plate, and finally in 2025 he was able to translate that selectivity into a little more extra base and home run power. He\u2019s a good baserunner and can steal some bags despite not much more than average speed. Cruz is a fringy center fielder and shortstop, and you don\u2019t want him playing everyday in either spot, but he\u2019s good anywhere else on the diamond and that versatility in a switch-hitter who constantly grinds out long, pesky, at-bats makes him an interesting option for the last spot on the Tigers bench.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s not likely to start the season in the major leagues, but he can fill a lot of gaps in the roster for A.J. Hinch if needed. Cruz needs to show he can translate his Triple-A production into decent work at the major league level. It\u2019s a longshot, but if so, he may ultimately take over from Zach McKinstry as the roster\u2019s Swiss Army knife.<\/p>\n
John Peck is a 23-year-old infielder who was the Tigers seventh rounder out of Pepperdine back in the 2023 amateur draft. A right-handed hitter, his offensive profile is still limited, but Peck can play a credible shortstop and is an above average defender at second and third base. He wasn\u2019t a very noteworthy prospect until the 2025 season, when he started showing more power and hit his way to a late season, 25 game audition at the Double-A level, where he held his own well enough to intrigue some prospect watchers.<\/p>\n
Peck doesn\u2019t chase too much and will take some walks, but he\u2019s still a pretty aggressive swinger who will get himself out sometimes even when he\u2019s swinging at pitches in the zone. He also whiffs and strikes out quite a lot for his age and experience level. There are big question marks around his ability to adapt to upper level pitching, as he has some issues handling better velocity and breaking stuff. Still, he can play shortstop, and that alone makes him an interesting watch. If the bat continues to mature, there\u2019s a path to a utility role for him eventually, particularly if he can start cashing in more of his solid raw power against left-handed pitching. His solid showing in his first look at the Double-A level built some enthusiasm for him among prospect watchers, but he still has some big holes in his offensive game that need to be cleaned up.<\/p>\n
This veteran outfielder was signed to a minor league deal on the same day the Tigers signed Justin Verlander. Now 33 years old, Slater had some success as a part-time outfielder for the San Francisco Giants. He\u2019s spent the past few seasons bouncing around as a fifth outfielder. A right-handed hitter, Slater really only hits left-handed pitching and doesn\u2019t have the kind of juice Jahmai Jones packs. That\u2019s going to make it tough for him to find a role as a right-handed hitting outfielder with Matt Vierling, Jones, Wenceel P\u00e9rez, and Javier B\u00e1ez all ahead of him in the \u201clefty-mashing outfielder\u201d tier on the roster. In Slater\u2019s favor is the fact that he\u2019s pretty solid at all three outfield positions. He\u2019s a real longshot to make the Opening Day roster, but no doubt the Tigers would be happy to stash him in Toledo as depth, if possible.<\/p>\n
29-year-old Corey Julks is another right-handed hitting outfielder competing for a bench job this spring. He\u2019s played in the majors a bit over the past three seasons, and has some power and speed to contribute offensively. There\u2019s just little to suggest that he\u2019s finally going to cash in those tools with a better approach and more hard contact at the plate. Signed before Slater was added, Julks is even further down the depth chart. He\u2019s shown no particularly propensity to dominate left-handed pitching in his brief looks at the major leagues, and will end up playing in Triple-A again this season unless some kind of radical breakthrough occurs at the plate.<\/p>\n
Now 26 years old, our final non-roster invitee among position players has never really garnered much interest as a Tigers prospect. However, like Cruz he\u2019s continued to develop a fairly well-rounded game and finally had some sustained success at the Double-A level in 2025. Malgeri is best in the corner spots, but he too can handle center field in a pinch. That versatility may eventually earn him at least a cup of coffee in the major leagues. A right-handed hitter, Malgeri has a pretty good approach and doesn\u2019t chase too much. His problem has been a tendency to just put the ball in play rather than hunting pitches he can drive. He does make a lot of solid contact and has close to average raw power, so there\u2019s a possible role for him if he can start pulling the ball in the air a little more, particularly against left-handed pitching. Most likely he\u2019s just a solid upper level org outfielder who might get a peek at the major leagues in a tight spot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every year, all 30 major league teams end up signing a whole pitching staff worth of minor league…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":570698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2386],"tags":[5,147,53,34954,2583,4,594],"class_list":{"0":"post-570697","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-tigers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-detroit-tigers","11":"tag-detroit-tigers-roster","12":"tag-detroittigers","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-tigers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116064796284575224","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}