Kansas City Royals: Profiling the nineteen 2019 Non-Roster Invitees

Infielders

The list of infielders invited to Spring Training is headlined by first baseman Frank Schwindel, but three others will be joining him.

Humberto Arteaga

Humberto Arteaga has been in the minor leagues since 2011. He was a Storm Chaser for the duration of the 2018 season. He played in 118 games for Omaha, where he tallied 121 hits, 21 RBI’s, and a slash of .292/.322/.386. His overall career slash sits at .250/.285/.318.

Arteaga pitched in three games for the Storm Chasers in 2018, following the trend of position players pitching that was set in the MLB during 2018. In the field, he has played every single infield position. He is typically more of a middle infielder, with most of his innings coming at short.

Samir Duenez

In addition to Frank Schwindel, first baseman Samir Duenez will head to Spring Training. He played for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals during 2018. He appeared in 80 games where he slashed .282/.357/.463.

From a fielding perspective, the first baseman holds an overall .983 fielding percentage at his position. He has also played a little outfield where the percentage sits at .986.

Jecksson Flores

Hailing from Cuidad Bolivar, Venezuela, shortstop Jecksson Flores also made the list. His 2018 season was spent with the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. In his 122 games played, he tallied 144 hits and 52 RBIs. He slashed .314/.363/.440 on the season.

Overall in his minor league career, he has a slash of .260/.338/.345. The 2018 season was his best yet, and he is building momentum. Unfortunately for him, there is a very talented, young shortstop just starting his major league career by the name of Adalberto Mondesi.

Frank Schwindel

Frank Schwindel is probably the player to be most excited about on this list. The 26 year old was drafted in the 18th round by the Royals in the 2013 draft. He was with the Omaha Storm Chasers for the entire 2018 season. He has yet to climb the ranks all the way up to the MLB, but he is dangerously close.

Last season, he slashed .286/.319/.506, tallying 146 hits in his 134 games played. He walked 34 times, struck out 71, and sent 24 balls over the fence.