A few former Northwoods League players are putting up numbers that should give them a great chance to break camp with the big league club for the first time when spring training ends in less than two weeks.

Washington Nationals RHP Jordan Zimmermann leads all pitchers this spring with 20 strikeouts, fanning those batters in only 14.1 innings of work so far this spring. He’s 1-1 with a 3.14 ERA.

Seattle Mariners RHP Chris Jakubauskas pitched extremely well again yesterday for a third consecutive start. He lowered his spring ERA to 2.16 with five innings of one-run, two-hit ball. He earned the win as the Mariners beat the Giants 5-1. Jakubauskas still is anything but a lock to make the opening day roster, in part because he is a non-roster invitee. However, his team leading 16.2 innings and low ERA are signs that he’s got a shot to join the Mariners 25-man roster in the near future.

Pittsburgh Pirates C Jason Jaramillo is in a two-person battle for the backup catchers spot for the Bucs with Robinson Diaz. Jaramillo is known more for his defense while Diaz is more of an offensive catcher. Ryan Doumit is the Pirates starting catcher.

It appears that those are the only three NWL alumni with no major league experience that have a shot to break camp with the big league club in 2009.

St. Louis Cardinals C Matt Pagnozzi remains in big league camp but there doesn’t appear to be any space for him come opening day with Yadier Molina and Jason LaRue already in place to be the Cards’ catchers. He’s in the final year of his contract with the Cardinals.

Player Movement

Here’s a list of some players that have been reassigned to minor league camp. This applies to players that were non-roster invitees that were cut from major league camp.

C Curtis Thigpen, Blue Jays
OF Paul McAnulty, Red Sox
OF Zach Daeges, Red Sox
OF Valentino Pascucci, Dodgers
OF Doug Deeds, Cubs
RHP Dillon Gee, Mets
LHP Willie Collazo, Marlins
LHP Ben Jukich, Reds

Players that are on the 40-man roster need to be optioned to the minor leagues when they are cut from big league camp (if they have options left). These NWL alumni were optioned to their respective Triple-A clubs.

RHP Joe Bisenius, Phillies
LHP Tom Gorzelanny, Pirates
RHP Justin Berg, Cubs
RHP Sam LeCure, Reds

**Source: MLB.com