Barrett, Sanchez, Snyder get spring training invites

Three mainstays in the Nationals organization will be back for another spring training with the club.

Aaron Barrett, Adrián Sanchez and Brandon Snyder are among the group of players who will receive non-roster invitations to West Palm Beach next spring, a source confirmed. All figure to face long odds of making the big league roster, but that's never been a deterrent for any of these veterans.

Barrett, who turns 33 in January, has participated in every Nationals spring training since 2011, the year after he was drafted. The right-hander made his major league debut in 2014, suffered an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery in 2015, suffered a gruesome broken arm while rehabbing in 2016, then made his much-discussed return to the majors in 2019.

Barrett appeared in two games for the Nationals this September, then was removed from the 40-man roster after the season ended. He elected to become a free agent rather than be outrighted to the minors, but he has since signed a new minor league contract and will return for another spring with the organization.

Sanchez's time with the Nationals dates all the way back to 2007, when he was signed as a 16-year-old out of the Dominican Republic. The infielder finally made his major league debut in 2017, and over the next three seasons he appeared in 90 games, batting .263 over 166 plate appearances.

Sanchez didn't play this season after suffering a torn right Achilles tendon. He was outrighted to the minors last month, but will get another invitation to big league camp next spring.

Snyder has played for six different organizations since the Orioles made him their first-round draft pick in 2005, but the versatile utilityman has spent three of the last four seasons with the Nationals, though he's yet to be called up to appear in a big-league game for his hometown team. (He grew up in Centreville.)

The 33-year-old spent this summer at the Nats' alternate training site in Fredericksburg.

The Athletic was first to report the three players' spring training invitations.