SAN DIEGO — For the first time in three years since the last time winter meetings were held in San Diego, the Rule 5 Draft will be held in person. This is after it was forced to be a remote event due to the pandemic in 2020 and canceled in 2021 due to the lockdown.
In years past, Rule 5 was the last act of Thursday morning winter meetings, with all baseball gathering before heading to the airport. This year could have the same vibe, though the event has been moved to Wednesday afternoon at 5 p.m. ET/2 PT (live audio stream on MLB.com) in those slightly truncated meetings.
What hasn’t changed at all, however, is that Rule 5 provides a low-risk opportunity for all 30 teams to source potential talent from the big leagues. Teams sift through the extensive list of eligibles and review scouting reports to determine if they want to make any choices.
Unlike the Amateur Draft (Rule 4), whose order is now determined in part by a lottery, at least in the first round, the order of the Rule 5 Draft continues to be dictated by the reverse order of seeding. last season. So the Nationals, who had the worst record in baseball in 2022, have the top pick, followed by the A’s. The Pirates and Reds finished with identical records last season, so the Pirates get the potential pick No. 3 in the draft due to ending with a worst record in 2021. The Reds pick fourth and the Royals complete the top five.
The order project
Below is the full Draft Order for Rule 5 from this year. A team must have room on their roster to make a pick, so the status of each team’s 40 players is included in parentheses.
Players first signed at 18 or younger must be added to 40-player rosters within five seasons or they become eligible to be drafted by other organizations through the Rule 5 process. Players signed at 19 or more must be protected within four seasons. Clubs pay $100,000 to select a player from the Major League phase of the Rule 5 draft. If that player does not remain on the active Major League roster for the entire season, he must be offered to his former team for $50,000. For this year, that means an international or secondary draft pick signed in 2018 had to be protected. A college player taken in the 2019 draft was in the same position.
1. Nationals, 55-107 (38)
2.A, 60-102 (38)
3. Pirates, 62-100 (38)
4. Reds, 62-100 (39)
5. Royals, 65-97 (40)
6. Tigers, 66-96 (38)
7. Rangers, 68-94 (40)
8. Rockies, 68-94 (38)
9. Sailors, 69-93 (39)
10. Angels, 73-89 (40)
11. D-back, 74-88 (40)
12. Cubs, 74-88 (36)
13. Twins, 78-84 (39)
14. Red Sox, 78-84 (39)
15. White Sox, 81-81 (36)
16. Giants, 81-81 (38)
17. Orioles, 83-79 (38)
18. Brewers, 86-76 (38)
19. Rays, 86-76 (40)
20. Phillies, 87-75 (38)
21. Relatives, 89-73 (34)
22. Sailors, 90-72 (37)
23. Guardians, 92-70 (39)
24. Blue Jays, 92-70 (39)
25. Cardinals, 93-69 (38)
26. Yankees, 99-63 (39)
27. Mets, 101-61 (33)
27. Braves, 101-61 (38)
29. Astros, 106-56 (37)
30. Dodgers, 111-51 (37)
There is also a minor league phase of the Rule 5 Draft, with costs rising from $12,000 to $24,000 for a Triple-A pick (anyone unprotected in a major league or Triple-A roster is eligible). The Double-A phase has been eliminated. Players selected in this part of the Rule 5 Draft are not subject to any roster restrictions with their new organizations.
Recent Achievements
The final Major League phase of the Rule 5 Draft took place in 2020, with 18 selections made. Seven of them have gone on to rack up positive bWARs over the past two years, led by Red Sox right-hander Garrett Whitlock (4.7) and Tigers outfielder Akil Baddoo (2.5). Both are among the top 10 Rule 5 picks of the past decade.
Top picks of all time
Changes to how Draft Rule 5 works make comparing eras a bit difficult. Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente is obviously the best ever to be taken in the draft, but that was a different mechanic back then. So looking at a more modern era, since 1990, here’s how a top five Rule 5 players who stuck, ranked by career WAR.
1. Johan Santana, LHP (51.7)
2. Shane Victorino, DE (31.2)
3. Josh Hamilton, DE (28.1)
4. Joakim Soria, RHP (18.6)
5. Dan Uggla, 2B (17.5)
Soria is the player on this list who has played most recently, pitching for the D-backs and Blue Jays in 2021. Among active players caught in Rule 5, Ender Inciarte eclipsed Uggla with a 17.9 WAR, but he was actually sent back to his original team, the D-backs, after the Phillies took him on in 2012 and he made his big league debut with Arizona in 2014. Odúbel Herrera is the closer among active players who have stuck, with 13.4 WAR.
Top Leads Available
There are a number of top-30 prospects who are eligible for the Rule 5 draft this year, although generally few high-ranked prospects change hands. There have been some intriguing names that popped up a bit in the lobby discussions, like Phillies left-hander Erik Miller, Braves right-hander Victor Vodnik and Rays left-hander Jose Lopez.
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