The RosterResource Opening Day Roster Tracker Is Here!
After an eventful offseason, actual baseball games are happening on a daily basis again. While there’s nothing like the real thing, at least it’s a sign that we are very close — 26 days, to be precise — to Opening Day.
In the meantime, each team currently has somewhere between 59 (Houston Astros) and 73 (St. Louis Cardinals) players in major league camp. How do I know? Well, I learned this, along with many other interesting tidbits, by using FanGraphs’ newest feature: the Opening Day Roster Tracker. Since it could also be quite useful to you over the next several weeks, let me tell you all about it.
First, here’s a quick primer on who is in major league camp and what happens as rosters are pared down to 26 players.
Who is in major league camp?
The full squad is comprised of each team’s full 40-man roster and a group of non-roster invitees (NRI). A non-roster invitee must be added to the 40-man roster if they break camp with the major league club.
What happens when a player is officially out of the running for an Opening Day roster spot?
If a player on the 40-man roster does not make the team, they are optioned to the minors; non-roster invitees are reassigned. They will continue to prepare for the upcoming season in minor league camp. This does not, however, completely rule them out from making the Opening Day roster. Circumstances can change, usually because of injuries, and a player can be brought back after being sent down.
Many players who signed minor league free agent contracts during the offseason have a clause in their contracts that allows them to opt out by a certain date (or multiple dates in some cases). If the player feels that they have a better opportunity elsewhere, they can request their release if not added to the 40-man roster by their official opt-out date.
What happens when a player is injured?Ā
If a player on the 40-man roster is not healthy enough to begin the season on the Opening Day roster, they must be placed on the MLB Injured List (7-Day, 10-Day, 15-Day, or 60-Day). The team can open a 40-man roster spot by placing a player on the 60-Day IL.
A non-roster invitee can’t be placed on the MLB Injured List. They would be reassigned to the minors and placed on the MiLB Injured List once the season begins.
How to use the Opening Day Roster Tracker
Along with projected Opening Day status, the tracker includes projected plate appearances, projected innings pitched, age, position, service time, and options remaining. Those with a light brown background in the name column are on the 40-man roster; those with a white background — non-roster invitees or those on the 60-Day IL — are not.
For players not on a projected Opening Day roster, their status is listed as a candidate for either lineup, bench, lineup/bench, rotation, bullpen, or rotation/bullpen. Some prospects are only in major league camp for the experience and aren’t competing for a roster spot. I don’t differentiate between those prospects, and those likely to make the roster. Until they’re reassigned to minor league camp, I assume they are candidates to make the Opening Day roster.
There are nine options in the “Projected Opening Day Status” drop-down menu.
1. Full Spring Training Roster: Every player in major league camp.
2. Projected 26-Man Roster: My current Opening Day roster projections.
3. NRI on Projected 26-Man Roster: There are currently 19 players on this list. Last season, there were 30 non-roster invitees who had their contracts purchased prior to Opening Day.
4. Not on Projected 26-Man Roster/Still In CampĀ
5. Still In Camp
6. Non-Roster InviteesĀ
7. No Longer In Camp: Optioned, Reassigned, Released, or Placed on Injured List.
8. Restricted List: Players currently on the Restricted List are not officially in camp, but could be added if reinstated if not serving a suspension.
9. Injured: Placed on Injured List, Projected Injured List, or Projected Injured List (MiLB).
Feel free to let us know what other information you’d like see on this tracker in the comments below.
Simply stunning. Thank you. Love, Joe.
Hey! Are the blue-box Candidates ranked in any particular order? Most likely to grab a spot should one open? Or simply random?
They should be sorted like this … projected PA, 40-man position players, NRI position players, projected IP, 40-man pitchers, NRI pitchers.
Yeah, me again. This gets better the more I look through it. Fascinating to see all the NRI names, lots of fuzzy blasts-from-the-past. Makes you realize how hard it is to not only make it to the major leagues but how hard it is to stay there.
Oh geez, I love you FanGraphs. This is AMAZING!!!!!!!!
By any chance, would you be involved in re-evaluating PA projections? Appreciate how challenging this would be, but it would be insanely useful to be aware of updated player status (e.g., changes in line up slot or in platooning) and to see impacts on playing time. Could be aligned with the “Mining the News” feature. Would support depth charts updates and utility too. To the best of my knowledge, we are told that depth charts are updated, but we don’t know with what, and to what effect. Knowing what information has been applied, and how (and what has not been factored in), would immensely improve our ability to leverage roster resource, positional and team depth charts, and depth charts projections. Sincerely, thanks for any consideration.
Yep, I update these regularly based on a lot of different factors. At this point, I’m looking for any manager/GM quotes that would indicate anything, lineup trends (not many this early), performance, injuries. Reader feedback is also helpful so feel free to email (mlbdepthcharts at gmail dot com) or send me a tweet (https://twitter.com/mlbdepthcharts) if you have any questions/suggestions.
Nice work – this is really helpful!
One note: When checking out the Rays Roster I noticed that Brendan McKay and Brett Sullivan are listed twice. I assume this is because they are both 2-way players? I am neither saying this does not make sense nor do I have a better idea, I just found it a little confusing at first sight.
Thanks for your work and have a nice weekend!
Edit: Michael Lorenzen is listed once as a Pitcher and once as a Batter with different Opening Day Roles. That makes it a bit easier to understand imo.
Thanks for pointing this out. I see what happened. Sullivan was just mistakenly listed twice on the depth chart and McKay is confusing because he’s not really a bench/lineup candidate but it was pulling him in twice because I have him listed as a 1B on the depth chart. Fixing now.
Jason, I used to use roster resource before it came to FG, but now I find it even more useful on the site. What an amazing source you have provided. Keep up the amazing work.
Agree 100%. When it moved, I thought, “Man, I bet its greatness will get diluted on the bigger platform.” But it’s better than ever.
There is no 10-day IL this year, correct?
EDIT: Separately, it is very helpful to know what is the up-to-date status of players, for example minor league DL. Having a regular-season resource (pun intended) would be an area that would be of great benefit (hint-hint).
There is, but only for position players. Pitchers must be placed on the 15-Day IL. Helps to avoid the roster manipulation that was going on.
For MiLB injured list, I don’t know if we have a good way to keep this updated at this time since there are so many players that I’m tracking. I do list any players who are out for a significant length of time as “Inj”. Hoping to improve on this coverage, though.
Is Ohtani a position player or a pitcher? IIRC these kinds of players now have some sort of special designation by MLB I believe.
He has two-way status so he can be placed on the IL as a pitcher and designated as a position player on the roster. Once he’s able to pitch (probably May or June), the Angels have the benefit of listing him as a position player so he doesn’t count against the 13-pitcher max.
Indians only have 25 players listed for opening day roster. Iām assuming that somebody just forgot to replace Emmanuel Clase after he got hurt.
Good catch. Fixing now. Replaced Clase with Maton.
This is best website in the world!
This is brilliant! In addition to all of the easily displayed and accessible data, I also like the team menu at the top. Makes it very convenient to toggle through a bunch of players at one time! Well done, Jason, and a big THANK YOU!
Are the PA projections entirely based on lineup position and platoon status? Or are you taking past injury history into account at all? I ask because you’re giving Carlos Correa 644 PAs this season and he has missed 50+ games a year three years in a row. Seems like there might be a sensible hedge to be made there (even if it was just knocking him down to 550 or so).
Lots of factors involved in the projections. In Correa’s case, I think there’s an argument to be made on a decrease. I currently have him at SS for 90% and another 2% at DH, which is about 145-150 games overall. So this accounts for a few days off and a short IL stint, which isn’t unreasonable for a 25-year-old with no specific health concerns. But with the injury history, it probably makes sense to drop him down a bit at SS. Not by 100 PAs, though. Thanks for the feedback!
Jason–Is there a place where changes are listed? Do you post those on twitter?
I will post the updated link on Twitter (https://twitter.com/mlbdepthcharts) for any changes that involve Lineup Regulars, Starting Rotation, or Late-Inning Relievers. On occasion, I will post bench/middle relief moves if they’re interesting for any reason.