Making the Team: Two Padres Non-Roster Invitees To Watch

By Bobby DeMuro
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Updated: February 13, 2015

Hope springs eternal every February as all 30 Major League clubs invite non-roster players to compete for spots on the big league roster. The vast majority of those players are either young prospects who will end up in the minor leagues for another season or two, or veterans in the twilight of their career, hoping to catch on and extend their playing days as far as possible.

Not surprisingly, the vast majority of non-roster invitees either wind up down on the farm, or released before the season begins to pursue opportunities with other clubs. Nevertheless, these non-roster players can sometimes make a big impact on a team’s season in unexpected ways. Today, CaliSports News looks at two intriguing non-roster invitees to spring training with the San Diego Padres.

Jose Valverde
Hard-throwing (and, um, eccentric) relief pitcher Jose Valverde will turn 37 during Spring Training for the Padres. Despite his last two seasons with a combined ERA of 5.63 in just 41 games spanning 40 innings, Valverde clearly believes there’s something left in the right arm that has thus far recorded 288 career saves in 626 major league appearances spanning 12 years.

For the Padres, Valverde represents a buy-low option on which to take a flyer this spring. He likely won’t make a deep Padres bullpen out of spring training, but if he can help their stellar relief corps at some point in 2015, or if he is able to step in for an unforeseen injury to a reliever, all the better.

For Valverde, 2015 represents likely one last shot to play Major League Baseball before going out as a three-time All Star who finished 5th and 6th in Cy Young Award voting in 2011 and 2007, respectively. And if his career ends in spring training, his numbers are impressive – at 9.9 strikeouts per nine innings with a 1.19 WHIP and just 490 hits allowed in 630 career innings, Valverde was, for several years, absolutely unhittable.

Brett Wallace [Image via @NVR_Sports]

Brett Wallace
Drafted in the first round by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2008 out of Arizona State University, Brett Wallace had all the makings of a major college prospect who could soon turn into an everyday Major League corner infielder. After his debut with the Houston Astros in 2010, Wallace hit a respectable 14 home runs and 32 doubles across 181 games between 2011 and 2012 while learning big league pitchers.

And then, in 2013, something went wrong. With the Astros, Wallace hit a meager .221/.271/.431 in 285 plate appearances, struck out a mind-numbing 104 times (including 17 in his first 24 at-bats), and only earned 18 walks. After coming up as a can’t-miss hitting prospect through a minor league career that has seen him slash .304/.376/.480 in ten seasons, Wallace completely fell apart.

Released by the Astros during spring training in 2014, he split time between the Baltimore Orioles’ and Toronto Blue Jays’ AAA affiliates, striking out 131 times in 525 plate appearances, but hitting .282/.350/.426 with 17 doubles and 17 home runs.

Wallace will turn 29 in August, and it is no exaggeration to say 2015 will be his last chance to salvage a Major League career. Despite their outfield additions this offseason, the Padres still have major questions about offensive production in their infield. Wallace has the opportunity to impress this spring and possibly earn at-bats for the Padres this summer should Will Middlebrooks and Yonder Alonso falter at the corner infield positions. But to do so, he needs to drastically cut down his abysmal strikeout rate in the big leagues, leave the bat on his shoulder to draw more walks and see more pitches, and return to whatever made him a career .406 college and .304 minor league hitter.

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