Yastrzemski heading to spring training, O's in Australia and Mussina's plaque

It was a bit of a surprise for me yesterday to see outfielder Mike Yastrzemski's name among the 18 Orioles non-roster invitees to spring training. It will be his first time joining those on the 40-man roster in big league camp. Pitchers and catchers report on Feb. 12 and the first spring game is Feb. 23.

Yastrzemski has always had a lot of support from fans around Birdland, and I can think of two major reasons for that. One is that he has a famous baseball name and is the grandson of Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski. Another is that he had a very strong 2014 season that got him solidly on the radar after his first full season of pro ball. He hit .288/.346/.490 starting with Single-A Delmarva, and then moved on to both Single-A Frederick and Double-A Bowie. It was an impressive year over three levels, and fans were waiting to see what came next.

Yastrzemski played four years at Vanderbilt and was signed by the Orioles after they selected him in round 14 of the 2013 draft. Some injuries have affected him in recent seasons and he started the 2017 season a month late due to offseason core and hip labrum surgery. A one-time ranked prospect - he was the O's No. 9 after 2014 and No. 25 after 2015 by Baseball America - he no longer makes such lists.

He's played the last three seasons between Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk. He hit .274/.349/.483 with an .832 OPS in 2017, and last year those numbers were .250/.339/.414 with a .753 OPS. But he posted a solid 11.8 walk rate at Triple-A. In the majors in 2018, among Orioles with 200 or more plate appearances, only Jace Peterson, at 12.8, topped that.

Scouts have often rated Yastrzemski's tools as mostly average, with nothing plus, but described him as a smart and savvy player and baseball's version of a basketball gym rat. Smarts on the bases, for instance, can make his average speed play better than that.

He's 28 now but has never been a minor league free agent. He will be after 2019. So maybe this non-roster invite is partly due to his loyalty to the club, partly due to his talents and success and partly because this season will be the last chance for the Orioles to truly find out what they have here.

Maybe Yastrzemski won't get many spring at-bats, and he's certainly a long shot to make the opening day roster. But we've seen him raise his game before. In helping Bowie win the 2015 Eastern League title, Yaz was dynamic. In nine games, he hit .406 with six doubles, two triples, two homers and nine runs. Got a feeling he'll bring some energy to the team, and it will be interesting to track him with whatever opportunity he gets in Florida.

Meanwhile in Australia: Orioles minor league infielder Chris Clare is playing for the Perth Heat in the Australian Baseball League championship series. In 32 regular season games, the 24-year-old Clare hit .283/.383/.381 with 11 doubles and 15 RBIs.

Drafted by the Orioles in round 21 in 2016, Clare hit .224 in 120 games last year as the everyday shortstop for Single-A Frederick. He's played second base and left field for Perth.

Gui Yuan Xu also had a solid season in the ABL, playing for Auckland. The 22-year-old Xu hit .264/.343/.319 with five doubles and 10 RBIs in 35 games.

In July 2015, the Orioles signed Xu, a now 22-year-old left-handed hitting first baseman/outfielder who is trying to become the first player from mainland China to make it to the major leagues. He is the first player signed from one of Major League Baseball's three youth developmental centers in China. Last season at short-season Single-A Aberdeen, he hit .167 in 25 games.

No logo for Mussina: So it turns out that right-hander Mike Mussina, a new Hall of Famer, won't enter Cooperstown with an Orioles logo on his plaque. But there will not be a Yankees logo either, as some readers here said they felt would be a certainty. Mussina will have no logo on his plaque, which I guess is the best compromise here. He stated several times he could not choose between Baltimore and New York, and he won't have to. The Hall of Fame staff could have made a choice of O's or Yankees, but they went with no logo. Catfish Hunter, Tony LaRussa and Greg Maddux are among Hall of Famers with no logo, and the late Roy Halladay will join Mussina without a plaque logo in July in Cooperstown.

A day for the fans!: FanFest is today at the Baltimore Convention Center. It's a daylong baseball celebration with player appearances, kids press conferences, Q&A sessions, games, autographs, one-of-a-kind memorabilia and more. Doors open at 10 a.m. for Birdland Membership holders and 11 a.m. to the general public. Roch Kubatko and I will be covering events all day and sending out news and notes via Twitter and posting some stories right here, so check it out all day. Click here for more.