ORLANDO, Fla. – If you’re right-handed and make a living throwing from a mound, you had a seemingly good chance of hearing your name called during Wednesday’s Rule 5 Draft.
There were a total of 13 players taken during the Major League phase of the Rule 5 Draft and 12 were right-handed pitchers. It started with the Rockies taking RJ Petit from the Tigers and the pitching run was only interrupted once, when the Twins selected catcher Daniel Susac from the A’s (and then subsequently traded him to the Giants).
The Triple-A phase was robust, with 55 additional players changing organizations. The 68 overall selections fell well shy of the 83 total picks from a year ago.
Players who turned pro at age 18 or younger in 2021 or at age 19 or older in 2022 are eligible for selection in the Major League phase of the Rule 5 Draft if they aren’t on a 40-man roster. Clubs that take a player in that phase must pay his former team $100,000 and keep him on their active big league roster throughout the following season. The player can’t be sent to the Minors without first clearing waivers and then getting offered back to his original organization for half his Draft price.
It costs $24,000 to take a player in the Triple-A phase, with no restrictions about where those players can be placed in 2025.
Below are the 13 picks made in the Major League phase:
A year ago, the White Sox made Shane Smith the top Rule 5 pick and he went on to stick in the rotation all year, making the All-Star Team in the process. This year’s top pick is headed to the Rockies’ bullpen. Petit was a 14th-round pick of the Tigers out of Charleston Southern in 2021. He has the chance to be a commanding presence as a 6-foot-8, 300-pound reliever, coming off a year that saw him finish with a 2.44 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 79 K’s in 66 1/3 innings. He throws his 83-85 mph slider with late break a lot, missing a ton of bats with the pitch, but he also has a mid-90s fastball and upper-80s changeup.
“Gigantic force on the mound,” Rockies professional scouting director Sterling Monfort said about Petit. “Really like the strike throwing, the K percentage. He’s had a track history of really, really attacking the zone with his three-pitch mix.
“The slider’s characteristics play really well at Coors Field to where it’s not going to change the shape too much. We kind of see him as more of a bulk reliever, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth inning-type guy that can give us some innings where they’re needed this year. He’s a very safe bet based off of the reports and the discussions that we’ve had about him, but we’re excited to have him.”
The White Sox are hoping to strike gold again after having two Rule 5 pitchers make major contributions to their big league roster in Smith and Mike Vasil. They nabbed Jedixson Paez from the Red Sox with their first selection (No. 2 overall), then were the only team to make a second pick, taking Alexander Alberto from the Rays at No. 13. They did, however, lose a pitcher when the Guardians took Peyton Pallette. White Sox general manager Chris Getz knows that neither of their additions has pitched at the upper levels yet, but he sees potential.
“We’ve been talking about them for the last couple of weeks,” Getz said. “In Paez, for one, multiple weapons. A lot of different pitches. He’s got an arsenal to navigate to both-sided hitters. In terms of the command and the amount of pitches he has, our group was really excited about it. Long-term wise, we view him as a real starter for us.
“Alberto, the guy’s got big-time stuff. It’s a unique pitch with his cutter. We feel like this is a chance worth taking on both of those guys and we’ve proven last year that we were able to navigate with two Rule 5 picks, three at one point. We’re excited to see what these guys can do for us.”
The Marlins were the only team to be raided twice in the Major League phase, losing Matt Pushard to the Cardinals and Zach McCambley to the Phillies.
“Super excited for both those guys,” Marlins director of Minor League operations Hector Crespo said. “Obviously, I have a long history with both Pushard and McCambley, so it’s really a testament to our pitching group and the depth that we’ve been able to obtain over the course of years and even the last couple.
“So happy for those guys. I think they’re going to be great, but really proud of our pitching group, just to have guys that were identified by other teams that get a chance now to hopefully, or at one point, contribute to a Major League roster.”
The only position player, Susac, was one of three selected players to get traded post-Rule 5 (The A’s are sending Ryan Watson to the Red Sox and the Pirates traded Carter Baumler to the Rangers). The Twins took Susac, then sent him to the Giants. The northern California native gets to stay in the region while trying to stick in the big leagues and is the only former first-round pick to be selected this year.
“I’m always happy for a guy who gets an opportunity,” A’s general manager David Forst said. “I talked to Daniel when we made the decision. I told him we knew this was a risk. Hopefully, he takes advantage of it. Good for him. That’s what the Rule 5 Draft is for.”
No team was more active than the Nationals. Not only did they take Griff McGarry from the Phillies in the Major League phase, they did quite a bit of shopping in the Minor League phase, taking six more players.
“I think it’s a good opportunity,” Nationals president of baseball operations Paul Toboni said. “You only have so many opportunities every year to upgrade the Minor League player pool. I think while we went into it with an aggressive mindset, it all comes down to the individual players and the intrigue each of them provide.”
Below are all the picks made in the Minor League phase:
