The Tampa Bay Rays have announced their non-roster invitees to Spring Training and the list is made up of several top prospects and former top draft picks as well as several players with big league experience.
The most notable player to receive an invite is Brody Hopkins, whom many consider to be the team’s top pitching prospect. The 24-year is considered a sensational athlete and Baseball America thinks his curveball may be one of the best in the entire game. The hurler was a 6th round draft by the Seattle Mariners in 2023 and then he was dealt to the Rays at the 2024 trade deadline in the deal that ended Randy Arozarena’s much beloved tenure in Tampa Bay. This past season, Hopkins compiled a 2.72 | 3.33 FIP with a 28.7 K% & 12.2 BB% over 116 IP in Double-A; he is projected to begin the 2026 season in Triple-A.
Hopkins is joined by a couple of other exciting starting pitching prospects in the Rays system: Ty Johnson and TJ Nichols. Both had incredible seasons in 2026 with Johnson effectively being one of the best starting pitchers in all of minor league baseball.
Other notables include former first round draft picks Brayden Taylor and Xavier Isaac, both of whom had years to forget in 2025. Taylor dealt with poor performance all season long in Double-A while Xavier Isaac underwent surgery in July to remove a brain tumor, ending his season.
As of now, the Rays will have 25 non-roster invitees joining the players already on the 40-man roster in camp, giving the Rays spring roster of 65 players. Several players will be partaking in the World Baseball Classic and thus will be later arrivals.
Pitchers and catchers are scheduled to hold their first workouts on Thursday, February 12th while the rest of the roster will officially begin on Tuesday, February 17th. The Rays will play their first game on Saturday, February 21st against the Atlanta Braves at 1:05.
The full list of non-roster invites are below
