Each year at 213 we look through the Non-Roster Invitees to spring training and get to know them a bit. Are they in camp to get a look at big league hitting/pitching to aid their development? Are the Mets just trying to get a better look at a future rookie? Are they a veteran trying to get back to the major league level? What can we expect from them this season?
You know what the Mets don’t have enough of in camp? Corner Outfielders! So many centerfielders – but can anyone play right?
Sorry for the sass. Obviously the Mets have a ton of corner outfielders in camp, and some corner outfielders learning to become centerfielders. That being said, the Mets burned through than NRI corners last year due to a variety of reasons. So while it seems unlikely right now Ryan Cordell will be in Queens, if it was last year, he would have been.
Cordell was drafted by the Rangers in the 11th round of 2013 and was traded in September of 2016 to complete a waiver wire deal in August of 2016 that saw Jonathan Lucroy go to the Rangers. Lewis Brinson was also part of this deal who the Brewers would later trade to Miami.
Speaking of later trades and familiar names, at the 2017 deadline the Brewers traded Cordell to the White Sox for Anthony Swarzak. You remember him, right?
Anyway Cordell would go on to make his major league debut with the White Sox and play parts of two seasons before becoming a free agent and signing with the Mets.
2018 White Sox: 40 PA, 37 AB, HR, .108/.125/.216
2019 White Sox: 97 G, 247 PA, 217 AB, 7 HR, .221/.290/.355
Last year he was up for quite the period of time and showed he has pop but not much else in terms of hitting at the major league level. It is worth noting before his callup last year he was hitting .275/.327/.471, so pretty well and in AAA over three seasons he has hit .266/.323/.451 so he’s starting to become a prototypical Quad A player.
So let’s see what Spring brings for him his year. If anything, reading his transactions record was a fun, trivia laced adventure.
