Tigers invite 13 non-roster players to 09 ST

01/12/09 2:04 PM EST
Tigers invite 13 non-roster players
Darrow, Fien among those who will join club at Spring Training

By Anthony Castrovince / MLB.com

With about a month to go before the Tigers report to Spring Training in Lakeland, Fla., the list of players coming to camp grew substantially on Monday.

The Tigers announced that they have invited 13 non-roster Minor Leaguers to take part in big league camp. There are four pitchers, four catchers, four infielders and one outfielder on the list.

Right-handers Rudy Darrow, Casey Fien and Ryan Perry, left-hander Jon Kibler and catchers Alex Avila, Jeff Kunkel, Dan Sardinha and Max St. Pierre will all report to camp Feb. 13, along with the rest of the Tigers' pitchers and catchers.

Infielders Cale Iorg, Don Kelly, Will Rhymes and Scott Sizemore and outfielder Alexis Gomez will be among the position players reporting Feb. 16.

Of the invitees, Fien and Darrow might have the best chance of making the Tigers' 25-man roster, as both could compete for a bullpen job. Fien was 3-3 with a 2.96 ERA in 40 games at Double-A Erie and 2-0 with a 2.40 ERA in 12 games at Triple-A Toledo last year. Darrow was 4-2 with a 1.85 ERA in 33 games at Class A West Michigan and 1-1 with a 2.63 ERA in 14 games at Erie.

Perry, a reliever who went 1-2 with a 3.86 ERA in 12 appearances at Class A Lakeland last year, and Iorg, who batted .251 with 10 homers, 15 doubles, seven triples and 47 RBIs at Lakeland, are two of the organization's top prospects.

Three of the invitees -- Gomez, Kelly and Sardinha -- have Major League experience.

Anthony Castrovince is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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Dan Sardinha

Poor Dane, typo of Castrovince's I would guess... Or we have Dane's brother......

More will probably be invited yet, like MiL Free Agents. Also I am watching for Jeffrey Sparks