Pinstripe prospects invited to main camp

The new guys always get the most attention in Yankees camp. It just so happens that this year’s most compelling new guys, with apologies to Matt Holliday, are the rookies.

The Yankees announced on Tuesday that highly touted prospects Chance Adams, Clint Frazier, Justus Sheffield and Gleyber Torres will be among the nonroster invitees reporting to George M. Steinbrenner Field for spring training. Each will be attending his first big league camp.

While Adams, a fifth-round draft pick by the Yankees in 2015, spent last year across the street at the club’s minor league complex, his fellow newbies will be clocking their first spring trainings in any sort of Yankees uniforms. Frazier, an outfielder, and Sheffield, a lefty pitcher, came to the Yankees from the Indians on July 31 as part of a package in return for lefty reliever Andrew Miller. Torres, a shortstop, arrived courtesy of the Cubs on July 25, as part of a package in return for closer Aroldis Chapman (who returned to the Yankees in December).

Outfielder Dustin Fowler and pitcher James Kaprielian, who join the above quartet in Baseball America’s top 10 Yankees prospects, will be non-roster invitees for the second straight season. Outfielder Aaron Judge and infielder Jorge Mateo, also part of that top-10 list, will be in camp as members of the 40-man roster.

From this group, only Judge has a bona fide opportunity to make the major league team out of spring training. For the rest, big league camp will present a chance to watch and learn from veteran teammates and get some exposure to major league opposition before being switched to minor league camp later in the spring.

The team also formally announced the signing of 11 players to minor league contracts with invitations to big league camp. Most notable: former Mets infielder Ruben Tejada; infielder Donovan Solano, who played in nine games for the Yankees last year; right-hander Nick Rumbelow, who appeared in 17 games for the 2015 Yankees; and former Cardinals utility man Pete Kozma, who spent all of last season with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.