Looking at the Non-Roster Invitees - Pitchers

Every year major league clubs invite between 25-35 players to spring training to give them a shot at making the Big League club. Some of these players have minor league contracts, and some are at camp with an all or bust mission of proving that they will be able to help on the clubs 40 man roster.

Here is a look at the pitchers the Nats invited to Viera this spring:

63 Bobby Brownlie-A former first round pick for the Chicago Cubs and standout at Rutgers, Brownlie (28) rose to the top of the Cubs system after going 14-12 with a 3.25 ERA in his first two years in professional ball. Brownlie however struggled in 2006 and never seemed to recover. He was released in 2007 and to this day is still trying to reach his first round potential as a major league starter/reliever. Here is scout.com's rendition of What's Easting Bobby Brownlie?

71 Gustavo Chacin- Chacin roared onto the scenes in 2005 for Toronto as one of the bette

r left handed starters in the American League. Armed with villainous sunglasses, Chacin combined a deadly curve and a low 90's fastball to keep hitters off balanced. Then, as quickly  as he came on to the scene in 2005, he vanished. Reconstructive arm surgery caused him to miss most of 2007 and all of 2008. Now he will try and make the leagues weakest rotation after not pitching in almost two years.

43 Jesus Colome- Colome is probably one of the closest to a lock to make the big league club of the players on this list. He has pitched in 122 games for the Nats over the last 2 years and has posted ERA's of 3.82 and 4.31 (a difference of only 6 earned runs). Colome gets a lot of strikeouts and throws very hard out of the pen. 

72 Justin Jones- Jones was drafted by the Cubs in the second round out of high school in 2002. The left-hander was on the right track his first two years in the minors, posting a 1.80 ERA in 2002 and a 2.28 ERA in A ball in 2003. His success led to him being named the 56th top prospect in baseball and the #2 prospect for the Chicago Cubs according to Baseball America. Double A just seemed to be too much, as he couldn't succeed at the next level. After being cut by the Cubs he has bounced around and has finally landed with the Nats. His chances of making the big league club are not high. 

68 Preston Larrison- Larrison has been a journeyman since being drafted by Detroit in 2001. He showed solid success at all levels but could not break onto the big league club. Elbow surgery in 2007 hurt his velocity and he was eventually released by both Detroit and Cleveland. 

75 Wilfredo Ledezma-  Ledezma is weird...In a spot start for Detroit in 2006, filling in for Justin Verlander, the lefty suffered a rough inning. Following the third out, Ledezma continued to walk into the dugout and literally...eat his own hat. Yes... literally...

60 J.D. Martin- Martin was a first round draft pick for the Cleveland Indians in 2001, and for a while was one of their top prospects. Martin was forced to get reconstructive surgery in 2003 and with it lost a great deal of his velocity. After a rocky 2008, the Indians finally let their once prized hurler go. Martin now comes to the Nationals with that same great curveball that made him a great prospect, but with velocity problems in his fastball.

45 Odalis Perez- Perez was one of the Nationals best starters last year for much of the season. He has been a consistent middle rotation starter for the last 10 seasons and if he ever shows up to camp, he will likely make the club. 

55 Jorge Sosa- Sosa signed with the Colorado Rockies organization as a free agent out of the Dominican in 1995. He's bounced around since, not making his debut until 2002 and not really producing at a quality level ever. There's a chance he'll find his way onto the big league club as a spot starter/reliever...just because of his durability. 

78 Josh Towers- Some of you may remember Towers breaking into the bigs as an Oriole back in 2001. He didn't throw hard, but he did something else no one did; he threw strikes. By getting ahead in the count, Towers kept hitters off balance and under his control. This gimmick didn't last long though, as he got battered for the next 4 years. Towers found a resurgence in Toronto in 2005 going 13-12 with a 3.71 ERA, but 2006 and 2007 were just as 2002-2004. 

35 Ryan Wagner- Drafted in the first round in 2003 by, you guessed it, THE Cincinnati Reds. He has a large amount of major league bullpen innings under his wing, but spent all of 2008 in the minors for the first time since breaking into the bigs in 2003. No one has ever questioned his arm, we'll see if he puts it together this spring.

76 Jordan Zimmerman- The Nats top prospect, Zimmerman had an off chance of making the back of the big league rotation out of spring training. A full year in AAA wouldn't hurt his development, so unless he is lights out expect the Nats to wait off at least a few months on bringing him up.