The White Sox announced on Friday the 10 players invited to spring training camp as non-roster invitees, and while none of them have a chance to make the 25-man active roster, there are a few that will be watched with interest.
Infielders Brad Eldred, Royce Huffman, Jeff Liefer and Michael Rouse as well as catchers Paul Phillips and Ryan Smith, infielder/outfielder Jason Bourgeois, outfielder Miguel Negron and right-handed pitcher D.J. Carrasco will join infielder Chris Getz when camp begins in Tucson, Ariz. next month.
The most familiar name is Liefer, once a first-round pick by the Sox in the 1995 draft and deemed a cant-miss power hitter.
The 33-year-old Liefer appeared in 288 major-league games with the Sox (1999-2002), Montreal (2003), Tampa Bay (2003), Milwaukee (2004) and Cleveland (2005). He hit .244 with 25 home runs and 79 RBI in 209 games on the South Side.
Bourgeois, 26, combined to hit .306 in 127 games between Class AA Birmingham and Class AAA Charlotte last season. He led all Sox minor leaguers in stolen bases (38) and ranked fifth in average.
Meanwhile, Getz, 24, hit .299 with a .382 on-base percentage with Birmingham in 2007, but was limited to 72 games due to a right shin injury. He was named to the Southern League midseason All-Star Team and reached base safely in 84.7 percent of his games played with the Barons. Getz, who compiled a .360 on-base percentage with Phoenix in the 2007 Arizona Fall League, was selected by the Sox in the fourth round of the June 2005 First-Year Player Draft.
Sox pitchers and catchers report to spring training on Saturday, Feb. 16, with physicals and a workout scheduled for the same day. The rest of the squad is expected in five days later, with their physicals scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 21.
