Chasen Bradford: Bradford, like the majority of invitees, is a pitcher whose presence suggests the Mets are looking to bulk up the bullpen. Originally drafted in 2011, Bradford has been with the 51s since 2015. Though his ERA spiked to 4.80 in 2016, his career overall of 3.42 is stronger, and he’s shown time and again that he can handle the pressure, earning five of six saves in 2016, and 36 of a possible 48 across his career thus far.

Xorge Carrillo: The only non-roster catcher to attend spring training, Carrillo was also a 2011 Mets’ draft pick. He began in Brooklyn, and spent 2016 in Binghamton and Las Vegas, where he batted .333 and .269, respectively, slashing .257/.328/.354 over his career.

P.J. Conlon: A 23-year-old Northern Ireland-native, Conlon is an intriguing prospect beyond his heritage. The lefty was the Mets’ 13th-round draft pick in 2015, and has already played with the Cyclones, St. Lucie Mets, and Columbia Fireflies. At 5’11,” Conlon is the shortest of the pitching invitees, but so far his performance suggests he’ll be a force to be reckoned with: he’s gone 12-3 with one save and an ERA of 1.47 across 41 games.

Phillip Evans: A 24-year-old infielder, Evans was drafted out of high school in 2011, and had his best season yet in 2016 split between Binghamton and St. Lucie, slashing .321/.366/.460 with eight of his 19 career home runs. Over his five-year career, Evans has hit .255/.318/.344.

Luis Guillorme*: A 10th-round draft pick in 2013, the infielder started in the Gulf Coast League and spent 2016 with the St. Lucie Mets, where he hit his first professional home run. Guillorme hit .285/.355/.326 across his career, with 34 stolen bases.

( * – Editor’s Note: Please email Jeff Paternostro with any and all questions about Guillorme.)

Kevin McGowan: The tallest invitee on the list, 25-year-old McGowan fits neatly between other leggy pitchers Syndergaard (6’6″) and deGrom (6’4″) at 6’5”.  A 13th-round draft pick in 2013, the righty spent 2016 moving between Las Vegas, Binghamton and St. Lucie, going 5-1 with two saves and an ERA of 2.35, the best of his career so far.

David Roseboom: This lefty was a 2014 draft pick and spent 2016 in Binghamton, where he managed 14 saves (in 15 opportunities) with an ERA of 1.87 across 52 games. Over his career, he’s gone 5-3 with 26 saves and an ERA of 2.26.

Ben Rowen: Originally a 2010 Texas draft pick, the 28-year-old made his major-league debut in 2014, in an eight-game run with the Rangers. He was called up for four games by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2016. Though both his stints in the majors have been middling (and short), his minor-league stats are impressive: 25-10 with 43 saves and an ERA of 1.85. Here’s hoping a spring training invite allows Rowen time to shake loose the nerves and show the majors some of his good stuff.

Paul Sewald: This righty pitcher was a 10th-round draft pick for the Mets in 2010, and spent 2016 in Las Vegas, where he went 5-3 with 19 saves and an ERA of 3.29. Over his time with Mets affiliates, he’s gone 16-8 with 66 saves and an ERA of 2.20.

Dominic Smith: Smith is the youngest of this year’s invitees—he’ll be 21 upon his arrival in Port St. Lucie. The infielder was drafted from his California high school by the Mets in 2013, their first round pick, and just finished off a great season in Binghamton, where he hit .302/.367/.457 with 14 home runs. I’ll be excited to see how this slugger holds up when he faces off against some major-league arms.

Champ Stuart: With a name like “Champ,” he’s gotta be good! Also an early draft pick from 2013 (the Mets’ sixth-round choice), this outfielder—given name “Jervis”—split time between Binghamton and the St. Lucie Mets in 2016. He hit .240/.314/.349 with eight home runs across the two teams, and he’s lightning fast; he’s managed 40 stolen bases in 114 games.

Corey Taylor: This 24-year-old righty pitcher was a seventh-round draft pick in 2015, and has done well in his time with the Cyclones and St. Lucie Mets. Over his two-year, 63-game career, he’s gone 5-6 with an ERA of 1.77 and 20 saves.

Logan Taylor: No relation to the aforementioned Taylor above, this 25-year-old, also a right-handed pitcher, was drafted by the Mets in 2012. He went 4-2 in Binghamton in 2016 and has a career ERA of 3.26 across 99 games.

Travis Taijeron: A 2011 draft pick for the Mets, this left fielder has spent the past two years in Las Vegas, where he hit 25 home runs in 2015, and 19 in 2016, batting slightly above his career average of .269/.370/.512. This slugger’s got power, and 110 career MiLB home runs to prove it; fingers crossed his swing is just as deadly in the big leagues.

Adam Wilk: At 29, Wilk is the oldest invitee on the list. (And yet still slightly younger than I am. Sigh.). Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, he’s already got his feet wet in the majors—he had runs in 2011 and 2012 with the Tigers, and two innings with the Angels in 2015. 2016 was not his best year—he went 2-8 with the Triple-A Durham Bulls, but I’ll indulge the Mets pitching staff here in the hope he can combine the mojo from his earlier days with his major-league experience and put his best arm forward for 2017. Wilk has a career ERA 3.59 across 153 games.

Photo Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA Today Sports

While his replacement Kevin Plawecki was initially disappointing offensively, after Collins applied some public pressure and Plawecki took to working with hitting coach Kevin Long, he’s seen some dramatic improvement. He hit two doubles and a home run in the five games immediately after Collins’s statement, and upped his overall contact, finally managing to bring his 2016 average out of the .100s. But despite Plawecki’s uptick, there’s no arguing that the Mets could benefit from a backstop with some hitting power. The problem is there’s really little to be found, and it’s been a problem for many teams of late. So I figured I I’d peek in at the minors to invest my hopes in the up-and-coming set—hey, a girl can dream.

Rene Rivera

Okay, he’s been an official Met for a few weeks now after being called up from Las Vegas to serve as backup catcher, but here’s a progress report: The 32-year-old is no stranger to the majors, but he remains a back-up catcher mainly due to his lack of offensive staying power. Since his callup he hit a home run against the Braves, knocking in Flores for a two-point lead, but overall he’s batting a lackluster .167/.375/.417 with the Mets thus far (albeit from a small sample size of 16 plate appearances). His time with the Padres in 2013-14 showed the most offensive consistency—Rivera averaged in the .250s and hit 11 home runs in 2014, so I’m holding out hope for his bat. Defensively, Rivera floats around average in most advanced catching metrics, but his biggest strength is undoubtedly his quick defensive arm; he has a career caught stealing percentage of 38 percent, besting both d’artaud’s 23 percent and Plawecki’s 28 percent.

Johnny Monell (Las Vegas 51s, Triple-A)

Bronx-native Monell, age 30, has a few major league games under his belt, too—he played for the Giants in 2013, and was called up by the Mets last year, where he batted .167/.231/.208 in 27 games. Both his 2016 season in Las Vegas (.243/.323/.351 so far) and his minor league career stats (.269/.350/.446) are significantly better, though.  If he could shake off the Citi Field stage fright, he has the potential to be a valuable backup.

Xorge Carrillo (Binghamton Mets, Double-A)

The 27-year-old was the Mexican Pacific League Rookie of the Year in 2014, and has bat consistently above .250 during his time in the minors. He hit 13 home runs in 2015, and is currently batting .250/.296/.434 with two home runs in 20 games for Binghamton, with a 2016 caught stealing percentage of 31.

Tomas Nido (St. Lucie Mets, High-A)

When I saw the catcher / DH designation next to Nido’s name, I felt my heart go pitter-Piazza-patter. Could it be—a strong offensive catcher? All signs point to yes; the 22-year-old is currently hitting .305/.330/.429 for St. Lucie, with a CS at 45 percent. The Mets chose Nido in the eighth round of the 2012 draft, and offered him a bonus to turn down college at Florida State to play for Kingsport. Last year he was named 2015’s South Atlantic League Mid-Season All-Star.

Ali Sanchez (Kingsport Mets, Rookie), Freshly 19, Sanchez is still a baby—he signed with the Mets in 2013 as a No. 25 international prospect when he was sixteen years old—but he’s another catcher / DH who’s shown continued promise. At 17 he hit .303/.406/.394 with an .800 OPS in his 50 games in the Dominican Foreign League. He spent 2015 with the Gulf Coast League before moving to the Kingsport Mets, and in his 49 games across two teams (the Gulf Coast League season has approximately 59 games; the Appalachian league’s runs 68) Sanchez continued to perform above average amongst catchers offensively, hitting .272/.330/.306. As an interesting bonus, Sanchez, who bats right, fares considerably better against lefties, averaging .300 against southpaws versus .262 against right-handed pitchers.

Defensively Sanchez also shows skill; of the 72 runners who’ve attempted stolen bases on his watch Sanchez has caught 37 of them, for an impressive CS of 51 percent. (In the majors, Salvador Perez leads current MLB catchers with a 2016 CS percentage of 58.3, Buster Posey behind him at 50 percent.) Sanchez will start the season with in Kingsport next month, but given the dearth of solid catchers out there, it’d be unsurprising to see him in Brooklyn later this year.

Photo Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports