Mark Montgomery, Kyle Haynes Invited to Yankees Spring Training

The New York Yankees announced on Friday morning that they have invited a pair of right-handed minor league pitchers to spring training. 

One of the right-handed pitchers is 25-year old Mark Montgomery, who was originally drafted by the Yankees in the 11th round of the 2011 MLB June Amateur Draft out of Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia. Over the course of five minor league seasons, Montgomery has pitched his way from rookie ball in Staten Island all the way up to AAA, posting a career 2.29 ERA in 240.0 minor league innings.

Montgomery has served primarily as a reliever in the Yankees farm system, and last season he pitched to a 2.66 ERA with 53 strikeouts and 17 saves in 50.2 innings split between AA Trenton and AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

The other right-hander is 25-year old Kyle Haynes, who was originally drafted in the 20th round of the 2012 MLB June Amateur Draft out of Virginia Commonwealth University. In four minor league seasons, Haynes has also worked his way up to AAA by sporting a career 3.28 ERA over 296.0 innings pitched.

Last season Hynes pitched to a 5-8 record with a 3.64 ERA and 87 strikeouts in 18 games started and 34 total games split between AA Trenton and AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

While it looks like the Yankees invited Haynes just to get an extended look at the young right-hander, Mark Montgomery might just have a shot at being at dark horse to make the front-end of the Yankees bullpen out of spring training.

Next: Pitchers and Catcher Spring Training Preview

My guess is both Montgomery and Hynes start the 2016 season in AAA with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders pitching staff.